The Shattered Gems
by karl0336
Summary: A story of Lapis, Peridot and Galenite, a Gem who was prisoned at the end of the rebellion and has slept ever since. And with no obvious way to escape, they are now forced to call this planet, this Earth, their Home. (First time fanfic ever, looking for feedback. Thank you very much.)
1. Chapter 1

**NOTE: This is my first fanfiction ever. I started writing this on the memo of my phone while I was bored in school. While I have seen many episodes of Steven Universe, I have little idea of the actual timeline. Feel free to point out any errors and give suggestions, but please remember that this is a first for me. English is also not my mothertongue, so the text might feel a little cluncky and the story might not be very original. Apologies are in order. I appologise. I am not also sure if I want to continue this past chapter one. So i will just apologise about that as well. Seems right. Also, Galenite was called Anhydrite when I was writing this. I tried to change her name, but I might have missed some in this chapter. Sorry about that.**

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The Shattered Gems

Chapter 1

And Then There were Three

Galenite awoke

She was alone in the room, with only the humming of the machines as her company. She tried to think clearly, as her mind was still hazy from her sleep. Of course she was alone, everyone had either died in the rebellion or fled back to Homeworld.

Homeworld.

Earth.

The beautiful living rock in the middle of nowhere that was the battleground and a grave for so many. She hadn't cared much about the place, but soon found Homeworlds methods cruel and often excessive, to cause fear and to simply show power. Earth was just a battleground where those loyal to Yellow Diamond would be found. The war, simply a test.

The war.

Memories came back to her over the time of second that seemed like hours. Memories of beautiful places she had helped to build, beautiful temples and graceful spires, all turned to dust by know. Memories of other gems, her friends, enemies, the dead and the living.

Mostly dead, though.

She got up from her crude metal bed and winced over the pain in her joints. Indeed, sleeping was a hard work she thought to herself. Sleeping for centuries and more was more than a walk in the park.

A walk would be nice.

She shook her head to gather her thoughts and picked up a block of metal from a self next to her. The block shimmered like chrome and flowed like water between her fingers until it came to rest on her arms and solidifying. That done, she turned her sights to a terminal in the main command console. A cruel joke, being able to see most of her prison, but not able to even take a step out of the room she was in. The terminal showed no communications. But why would there be any? She was probably listed as dead, and everyone who knew that she wasn't would just let her rot there. Not that she could, that is. But why was she awoken? Why were the machines in the ore refinery turned fortress being switched online? This place was forgotten, only she and the whispers of the past lived here. She stopped the morbid strain of thought and looked at the terminal again. Someone was here! Two someones, to be precise. She cursed the malfunctioning cameras and rose up. She was locked in the command centre, and they, whoever they were, would come here, sooner or later.

 _1 hour earlier_

"Why are we here?" asked Lapis from her silent companion ,as they walked through the rocky countryside. "Where are we going?"

"You are starting to annoy me" replied the green gem who walked with a small limp.

"If you would answer any of my questions, then maybe I would say silent for a while"

"And then simply ask new ones"

"That happens if you won't even tell me why we are in the middle of nowhere searching for stars know what. I can just leave and you will be free to live out your paranoid life to its full potential"

Peridot stayed silent for a while before answering. "We are alone. We are cut off from both Homeworld and the command line and are now stuck on this planet. A hostile planet, as the Crystal Gems would just crush our gemstones with no remorse. If we are to have a fighting chance, we need supplies, a base and a plan.

Around here somewhere should be a factory or something that was taken over by Crystal Gems and used as an outpost before they abandoned it. I don't know in what shape it is in, but it is a start. Now, let me find the entrance. It looks as if the whole place is covered in rubble.

Lapis let Peridot use her finger screen to scan the area and took the time to think back at the few past weeks. Malachite had unfused and Jasper was gone. While Lapis had been the dominant one in the fusion, Malachite's own mind had become stronger later, and the struggle for control became a war on two fronts for Lapis. Soon, the collective minds that made up Malachite were separated as the fusion tore itself apart in the bottom of the sea. The experience had apparently been so traumatic that Lapis was effectively amnesiac about the whole thing. She had awoken one day as herself and had "gone with the sea", or whatever humans said. After a while she run into Peridot who had, apparently from sheer desperation, tried to salvage anything she could from an old Gem garbage dump. After some talking and arguing they had decided to stay together and refrain from any attempts of communication with Homeworld, the Crystal Gems and Jasper, should she be still alive. They had a rough start, with both almost leaving several times, but as Peridot put it, they were a few in a big world. This fear of being abandoned again kept them together, while their general disliking of each other kept them apart. Peridot was secretive, paranoid and maybe not the most stable gem after everything that had happened. While she seemed to have cut her ties with Homewolrd. Lapis was not sure what her motives besides plain survival were. Lapis herself just wanted peace, but seeing as both Crystal Gems and Jasper who, at least in Lapis's mind had survived, would have attacked them on sight, peace was out of question.

As she thought , Peridot called out: "Don't just stand her, come help me".

Lapis walked towards Peridot, who had uncovered a part of a metal door and began moving the stones that blocked the way. Soon enough the doorway was uncovered and cut open by Peridot. The two stepped inside the ancient hallway that was illuminated by red emergency lights. While she was curious about the place, sudden mechanic noises from deep inside the refinery forced her silent. The two gems nodded and wordlessly armed themselves, Peridot with her arm cannon and Lapis with a sphere of water.

Galenite tracked the movements of the intruders from the console. The cameras were offline, but the motion sensors still worked and displayed them as two red dots on the facility's map. Her eyes were glued to the screen as the dots kept moving, stopping occasionally to apparently investigate something and moved on.

The Armory.

Engineering section.

Barracks.

Supply depot.

Whoever they were, they had an idea what they were doing and where they were going. Thoughts raced through Galenites head. Who were they? Crystal gems looking for usable technologies? Yellow Diamonds followers who had come to set a foothold on the planet? Neither were good, as both would see her as a supporter of their enemies. But as the map showed, the vault would be the next target on the looters. Freedom was not millennia away anymore

"This place gives me the creeps" Both gems froze for a moment, until they were sure the noises that followed the statement were mechanical in nature. The entire place was apparently reactivating, as if they had come to work here. But something seemed off for Lapis, even if she could not point her finger at it. The duo entered the depot, which was unnaturally silent. No machinery in here worked and the cranes used to lift the heavy crates that still littered the area stood still.

 _Clink_

 _Thump_

 _Clink_

 _Thump_

Peridot walked to the closest crate and begun opening it, while Lapis looked around the place.

"I have a strange feeling. Like someone is watching us."

While Peridot was unsure of being watched of, some things here puzzled her. The whole place had simply been on a standby mode. That would have required the presence of someone to constantly override the computers commands, even for thousands of years. But nothing in the depot had been moved; the crates were sealed and had rusted to the ground. As she continued to work in the eerie silence, Lapis suddenly said:

"I think I heard something!" ,making Peridot flinch. "Lapis, I don't have time for your overly active imagination."

"I think it came from over there" Lapis had ignored the cruel remark and began walking towards a hallway that lead deeper into the compound. "Lapis!". Peridot scrambled to get up and run after her. She could have just let her go and continue her search for supplies, but being alone in a facility that only _seemed_ abandoned did not sound like a good idea.

Galenites nose was just centimeters away from the screen as she watched the map. The dots had stayed in the depot and she was getting nervous. They had moved slowly, and she was not sure if they would continue to push deeper into the facility. She slid under the console and tried to hotwire the speakers in the hallway to give them a message, but only managed to produce a short static screech. If it had any effect, it must have been a repelling one. But suddenly the dots on the map started to move.

They moved slowly, ever so slowly on the map. She must have scared them with her attempts at communication and realized she must leave a good impression to them if they even opened the door. But who were they? Why hadn't she thought this more trough? But it was already too late to rethink the plan as the strangers had reached the door. "Come on now, just a few button presses" _"This place is getting stranger by the second"_ Galenite held her breath. She hadn't said that. While she was questioning her sanity, another voice rung out:

 _"_ _What do you mean?"_ While the cameras had long broken down, the audio receivers had apparently survived and were relaying the conversation on the other side of the door. _"The door is locked, and the controls in the inside have been manually tampered with" "But we can still open it, can't we?" "Think a little with your pretty blue head. Something was locked inside here" "But what, and by whom?"_

 _"_ _How should I know?" "Well, you have been so all-knowing up to this point…"_

 _"_ _While my intelligence is above average, I am not, contrary to the popular belief, all knowing."_ Galenite frowned as the conversation dragged on, but the strangers seemed to get tired themselves.

"Let's just open it and get this over with" Peridot quickly pressed some buttons before her companion could say anything else, and the door slid open. The room beyond it was fairly large, but it was hard to tell the full size of it as machines covered a large portion of the walls and the ceiling. But the machines were not the centre of their attention. Peridot took a step back while a comment of her hair died on Lapis's lips. A figure stood on the other side. A Gem. She was gray in color, stood as tall as Peridot, and had a larger build than Lapis. Her short silver hair hung loosely from under her light helmet and she had several armor parts protecting her knees, elbows and chest. She did not look militaristic though, rather a worker of sorts, as similar suits were used on construction sites.

The grey Gem raised her hand into an awkward wave and smiled unsurely. Lapis took a step fovards, but Peridot suddenly yelled "She has the traitors mark!"and raised her arm cannon. Galenites wave turned into a battle stance, as the silvery arm covers flowed into her palms and took the shape of two blades. As the two prepared for a clash, Lapis jumped between them, raising her arms and blocking the view. The scene force and the three stayed still, Peridot staring at Lapis and Anhydrite waiting to see what would happen.

"Ok, let's try this again" Lapis broke the silence. "We don't want to fight. I am Lapis Lazuli and she is Peridot. Who are you?"

"My name is Galenite" the grey Gem answered and stooddown her weapons.

"Lapis, she is marked!" Peridot whispered. That was true, Galenites gemstone had a black mark that had been burned there with a gem fragment. Marks such as these were impossible to remove, and only upon death did it dissipate. "Peridot, the last thing we need is one of us being killed. And we could use help. "We don't need anything from her." She answered, while slowly lowering her weapon.

Lapis looked at both of them and relaxed bit. "Al right, now we can…" A sudden beep startled the three and both Peridot and Galenite raised their weapons again. Anhydrite looked back into the room while still keeping one eye at Peridot. "Did you bring friends?"

"What do you mean?" the other Gems stepped closer. "I mean that someone just used the warp pad."

"The warp pad!" Lapis and Peridot yelled in unison and looked at each other with a slight hint of fear.

"It must have been activated with the rest of the facility. Strange." Galenite looked at the others. "Is something wrong?"

"It's the Crystal Clods" Peridot answered and moved closer to the map on another screen. "The Crystal Gems," Lapis explained to Galenite, "Are what remains of the followers of Rose Quarts ."

"Where is the damned pad anyway?" "Here," Galenite stepped next to Peridot and pointed to a room on the map with only one path leading to the "Entrance hallway!" Peridot cursed. "They are going to cut us off from the exit. We need to get out of here!"

"What do you mean, "we"," Galenite took a step away from the others. "I have no quarrel with them. They have no reason to attack me."

Anger flashed in Peridot's eyes and Lapis replied coldly. "Simply not being a Crystal is all they need to open hostilities. Even if they don't know you, you are still just a Homewolrd Gem to them." "They will probably seal you up in a bubble somewhere" Peridot backed up Lapis's story. Galenite thought a minute and stepped back to the map. "There are three of us against" she looked at the dots "the four of them. We could try to fight them." "And die trying." Peridot snapped back "Even if we ambush them somewhere, Lapis and me are not armed for a close quarters fight. These are trained warriors, we are not."

"How about we hide and let them go past us. Then we run to the pad and warp somewhere." As the others thought about Lapis's plan the console peeped two more times in a quick succession and a voice was carried over by the coms: _"Steven, we don't have time for your camera. Steven!"_

The three huddled around the dusty speaker. "That's Pearl" Peridot hissed.

 _"_ _We are wasting time. Lets go."_

"And the fusion, Garnet." Lapis added. "Wait," Galenite stopped them "The Fanatic and The Lovers are here?" she addressed the Crystal Gems with their rebellion-age nicknames. "Rose Quarts is here as well, in a way" Lapis said and exchanged glances with Peridot. "In what way?" "The boy, Steven, is her child." Galenite was stunned. "What?". Lapis sighted. "Rose had a child with a human and gave up her physical form to give her gemstone to Steven."

"…What?"

"You two can chat later, we need a plan!" Peridot watched the movement of the dots anxiously. "What about my one?" Lapis asked. "We could hide in the depot" Galenite supported her. "Fine. But let's move, they will get there any moment."

Galenite set the speakers in the hallway to produce static noises to make Crystal Gems investigate and hopefully not search the depot. That done, she ran to meet the others, who had already flown to the top of one of the cranes. The two swords melted once again and moved to her legs, while remaining connected to the silver gemstone in her left palm with a thin line. The liquid metal reached her feet and took the shape of large boots. The boots begun to glow and Galenite floated up to Lapis and Peridot. On the crane, the boots formed a saber in her left hand. "What is that stuff?" Lapis looked at the sword. "Silicone nanobots. I can control them with my mind and power them with my gemstone. It has a lot of uses, however the constructs are somewhat fragile, so weapons tend to brake often. But.."

"Silence" Peridot whispered. Soon they began hearing footsteps.

The Crystal gems walked through the derelict halls. While the place seemed empty, mechanic noises rung in the distance. "Garnet, what is this place?" Steven was holding his new favorite object, a camera that had once belonged to Craig. Before Garnet said anything, Pearl answered. "It is an old ore refinery. During the war Homeworld Gems used it as an outpost until we took it over ourselves. But we too abandoned it soon. I did not even know there was a warp pad here." "Cool." Steven took a few photos of some large machines as they walked past them. "Whatever if this place is cool or not, something activated the warp pad here. And we need to find out what." After Garnets statement, the four walked in silence, until they reached a large room, which Pearl identified as the supply depot. Suddenly Amethyst, who had been silent for the whole time said: "Do you hear that?" "Hear what?" Pearl asked as all four stopped walking. "Some noise, like static or something" "Amethyst is right. It's coming from there" Garnet took the lead as they began walking again, but Steven lagged behind.

"Steven, let's go."

"In a minute. I am just going to take a few pictures."

Galenite, Lapis and Peridot stood still as they waited for the room to empty. When the Gems get to the command centre, they will hopefully stay there for a few minutes, giving the three time to escape. But that was only the plan. And plans are never foolproof.

Galenite knew the plan failed when the boy, Steven, pointed his camera upwards, right at the crane they were standing on. "Go" was the only thing she could yell, before the flash blinded them for a moment, but the others were quick to act. Peridot and Lapis fired at the returning Gems with water spheres and bolts of electricity, successfully forcing Amethyst and Garnet back, but Pearl only ran faster, reached Galenite, who had jumped down last, and stabbed with her spear. Trough luck Galenite blocked the blow and the following slash, and hit with her own sword, which changed shape midair and turned into a mace. The weapon hit Pearls spear out of the way and forced her to jump back to Amethyst and Garnet, who readied themselves for the next blow. The next blow, which never came, as their opponents ran away. Peridot fired a few shots blindly as she struggled to keep up with the rest.

"They are getting away!" "Don't worry, I got this" Amethyst struck with her whip, which curled around Peridots leg. "Amethyst, no!" Pearl yelled.

"I recommend you get rubber gloves next time" Peridot mocked as she shot a bolt of electricity through the whip, which moved too fast for Amethyst to react. As she fell down and Peridot got back up, Steven suddenly ran after her, yelling "Lapis, Lapis, come back!"

"Steven!" Pearl and Garnet followed and left Amethyst alone in the room.

"I am fine, by the way"

"Run!" Galenites sword turned into a laser cutter and she fired a few beams to keep Crystal Gems back. The bolts flew too high to hit Steven, and as he ran into the warp chamber he saw Peridot jumping on the activating pad. "Lapis, don't go!"

"Bye Steven". A beam of light shot from the pad and the three Gems disappeared. "Steven!" Pearl and Garnet caught up with him. "Steven are you ok?!" "Pearl, he is fine" Garnet looked at the pad. "You are right. But what happened? Why were Peridot and Lapis here?" "And who was the grey Gem ?"

"I don't know, Steven," Garnet looked back, "But if Lapis is here, it means that Jasper is out there as well." "Great. So not do we have just three rouge Gems on the run, but Jasper is plotting somewhere as well. At least they cant escape from Earth. I hope"

"Look, I took a picture of them." Garnet examined the photograph in Stevens hands. "I have no idea who the grey one is, but she cant have come from Homeworld. Whoever she is, we need to find out what they are planning, and stop it." "Maybe they are planning something nice, like a party or something?" "I highly doubt that, Steven. Let's get Amethyst and go back home. We have work to do."

Soon the Crystal Gems had left, and the refinery begun to lapse into silence once more, the echoes of the past becoming the masters of the abandoned, ancient outpost again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again. Encouraged by the one review I got (thank you, by the way), I have decided to continue this fanfiction. There might be some inconsistencies, because I have not thought this trough very well. Also, this chapter is a bit darker than I planned, but school and listening to Linkin Park might not have been the best idea. Oh, well, in the end it doesn't even matter (ha ha ha). Enjoy, review, and give suggestions. Knock yourself out.**

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The Shattered Gems

Chapter 2

Memories gained, memories told

A beam of light hit the warp pad and faded away to reveal three Gems standing on the pad, one blue, one green and one gray. They stood still for a moment, as they were greeted to a beautiful sight of a long, winding path leading to a giant floating island. The path was cut off by a chasm between the island and mainland, with only a few smaller rocky mini-islands floating in between. The path continued as a covered spiral staircase that lead to a domed structure on the top of the cliff.

"The Sky Spire." Galenite was the first to step off the pad and started to walk along the path. "You know about this place?" Lapis had caught up with her, while Peridot scanned the view for a few more moments. "I helped to build it."ˇ "You were a construction worker?" Peridot asked with a snide voice. "An architect." Galenite corrected her in a not very friendly tone. Feeling the tensions rise between the other two Gems, Lapis used the lull in the conversation to learn more about their new environment. "What do you know about this place, Galenite?" "This structure was supposed to be the private residence of the Overseer of the Kindergarten. But it was never finished, because she died in the rebellion." "Ironic, isn't it," she continued, "Her job was to make sure that all life on Earth was destroyed, but she insisted in living here, where nature is this beautiful." "I suppose so…" Lapis's sentence trailed off as a creature jumped on the path from the bushes. It had was covered in fur, had four legs, horned and yellow eyes with strange horizontal pupils. "What. Is. That?" Peridot had frozen and remained motionless. "A goat." Galenite continued to walk as if nothing had happened. "And what is a "goat"?" Peridot has somehow managed to speak without moving her lips. Lapis followed Galenite, seeing as she did not seem to fear the creature. "It is an animal humans used for food. It is harmless, but I would not recommend sticking your fingers close to them, Peridot. They will try to eat anything they can." Galenites face grew grim for a second, "One of them ate my warp whistle once."

After the danger in the shape of a goat had passed, allowing Peridot to pass, Lapis looked at her companions. Galenite had not spoken unless being asked. She did not seem hostile, but Lapis was still unsure of her. She suddenly noticed that Peridot had placed herself between Galenite and Lapis, as if to cover her against an attack. The two had had trust issues at the beginning, but it all changed a few days before meeting Galenite.

It had been three days since they first met again, and they had agreed to only travel together to the closest warp pad. Since night had fallen, they made camp. The forest around them was silent, only a few night birds made their presence know. That, and a few eyes that gleamed on the edge of the clearing, looking at the two Gems and their campfire. Peridot had at first been against lighting fires, but after Lapis explained its repelling effect on the animals of the forest (and after seeing the eyes for the first time), she changed her attitude. As they watched the fire, Peridot had suddenly said: "Can I ask a favor from you, Lapis?"

"Go on."

"I need to retreat into my gem to regenerate my leg. Could you look over me while I do it?"

Lapis had expected Peridot to ask the question for some time. The replacement leg made from scrap metal slowed her down and, from the way Peridot grimaced, apparently caused her pain. Peridot had explained the logic behind her design that night. If she would be injured, she could remove the damaged body part and replace it with a temporary one, allowing her to function long after a normal Gem would need to regenerate. Lapis had found it a bit cruel, but practical, in some cold, logical way. The makeshift body parts were not as good as the originals, because the removal severed connections in Peridots limbs, causing the fore mentioned pain and reducing the mobility of the replacements.

Peridot had flashed green, shrunk and disappeared in her gemstone. Lapis had picked it up and looked at it for a long time. Trusting another Gem with your gemstone, especially If your relations with the other Gem were not very friendly, required courage. Peridot had returned after a day. Her new leg had looked, well, new. Peridot was still getting used to it, as she had rushed the regeneration process, and the new leg was just slightly taller than the other one. While the two Gems had not spoken of the event, they stopped quarrelling as much and had warped together to the refinery.

Lapis was brought back to from her memories when Peridot asked her something. "What?" "I asked, if you didn't know about this place, then how did you warp us here?" All three thought about the problem. "Maybe the warp pad was just malfunctioning after a few thousands of years of inactivity." "That would be a first.", Galenite joined in the conversation. "Warp pads are not known for malfunctioning.". Lapis was glad that the conversation ended when they reached the end of the road. All three of them looked up to the top of the Spire.

"Race you to the top!" Lapis summoned her watery wings and took off into the blue sky. Hearing a laugh she looked down to see Galenite with her glowing boots not far behind, while Peridot was running up the wall, not bothering to fly. Lapis circled the Spire a few times, before landing on the balcony, where she was joined by Galenite, and a moment later, Peridot with her finger rotors.

"I won." Lapis laughed and stepped inside. "This wasn't a race, Lapis!" Peridot yelled after her. Galenite chuckled. "Learn to lose, Peridot."

"I did not lose! We were not racing!"

The structure was mostly intact, with a few marks of a relatively recent fight. The windows light the main room, offering a breathtaking view of the surrounding lands.

"This is trange." Lapis said from a wall opposite the balcony.

"What?" "There is a little house here, with furniture and everything." "Let me see". Galenite walked closer and looked in form a miniature window. "Cute. You think the Overseer liked playing with dolls?"

"What the Overseer did of her free time is none of our concern." Peridot had finished her tour around the building and called the other two closer. "What we need to do now is set our long term plans and the structure of command."

"I think we should stay here." Galenite and Peridot looked at Lapis. "Why? This place is not a strategic location, there are no usable Gem technologies here, it's isolated…" Peridots list of arguments were cut of by Galenite "We get it, Peridot. But I think that Lapis's plan has a point." "Did you even listen to me? There is no logical reason for us to stay here."

"Exactly. Why would we stay here? Why would anyone come here, besides to enjoy the view of course? The Crystal Gems would never suspect that we are here." Peridot stared at Galenite, and was about to say something, when Lapis cut in, and while still looking out of a window, said coldly: "You can always leave." Peridot seemed to be taken aback with the statement. "You can't be serious!" She looked at both Lapis and Galenite, then stayed silent for a minute. Lapis did not deviate from her pose while Galenite was unsure of the whole situation.

"Fine. We can stay here.", Peridot gave in. "Let's just move on."

"Certainly" Lapis returned her sight to the other Gems and the overall atmosphere of the room seemed to rise a few degrees.

"Now we need to choose a leader for ourselves. We can't make all decisions with voting. We need someone to lead us. I vote for myself."

"I will vote for myself as well." Lapis said. Peridot stared at her, and then both turned their eyes at Galenite.

"What?" "You need to vote."

"Fine. I vote for Lapis."

"Why?" Peridot seemed disappointed and somewhat angry at the same time.

"I just care too much about you, Peridot. You might not handle well under stress." Galenite said mockingly.

"I accept my position," Lapis cut off the conversation before it could escalate any further," and as my first action, I am telling you, Galenite, to shut up. This is a serious matter." She gave Peridot a friendly and an encouraging look to indicate that she should continue. Peridot nodded back and said: "We need to think what we will do next. If we are to stay here, we need to remain silent for a while, in case the Cristal Clods are still looking for us. We also need to make this place more acceptable for living."

"I can make us some furniture." Galenites multi-tool formed itself into a saw and she stood up from the chunk of rock she had been sitting on. "And I'll do something with the holes in the ceiling." Lapis continued. With these words the two left, leaving Peridot standing alone.

She sighted, "Why am I even bothering with all this." and sat down.

The setting sun found Lapis sitting in the centre of the circular room, weaving a matt from the vines she had found nearby. The larger holes had been covered up with the same plants, and she was making a hammock for herself. Galenite said that she had slept long enough for now and worked oustide, while Peridot has just snorted when Lapis asked if she wanted a bed as well. As she was thinking about Peridot, she stepped in the room, and ran to a window to look out from.

"Peridot, what are you doing?"

"Shhh!" Peridot walked around some more, before finally sitting down next to Lapis.

"Lapis, I need your help. It concerns Galenite."

"I am not going to spy on her, if that's what you are suggesting."

"But we need information. She clearly is not going anywhere, but we don't know a thing about her. We don't know who locked her in the refinery. We don't know why she was marked. We don't know her motives for staying with us. We don't know…" Peridots voice climbed higher, until Lapis stopped her.

"Peridot, calm down. She will hear you." Peridot stopped talking at once. "I'll do it, but only because we have to be open with each other. She has the right to know about us as well." Peridot nodded, but when Lapis started to walk to the door, she remembered something: "Lapis! Don't tell her anything about the Cluster."

"…Agreed"

Lapis found Galenite outside by the Spire, chopping down a tree.

"Hi!"

Galenite nodded and turned back to her work. "So, I was wondering…" Lapis continued. "Yes?" "How did you end up in the refinery, and how long were you there?"

Galenite stopped, looked at Lapis, and after seeing that she wanted an answer, sat down on a rock and sighted. "I was locked there by the Homeworld Gems, and was being prepared for my execution.

 _Execution?_ Lapis thought.

"When the Crystal Gems attacked," Galenite continued, "I got free and hid myself. When the battle was over, I was found while trying to escape, but they had no idea what to do with me. For a while I was just imprisoned and simply left there when the call came for Crystal Gems to leave."

"Seems cruel."

Galenite laughed. "The Gem that was supposed to "take care of me" simply did not have the guts, and apparently thought she was doing me a favor. Then, I slept."

"But why were you imprisoned in the first place?"

"What is this, an interegation?"

"I simply want to know more about you, seeing as you joined our group."

Galenite took a breath, and started her story again.

"I was an architect who was sent here to build. That much is probably obvious. I don't really look like a soldier, do I? At first, when I knew nothing about the place, I was excited. A new and untamed world, with such a diversity of life. Gem Homeworld is beautiful, don't get that wrong, the architecture is wonderful. But there is simply too much of it. Just buildings, buildings and more buildings. But then, a new world, a new canvas. Sounded like a dream fulfilled.

At first everything was nice, Earth was beautiful, the humans that lived here were relatively peaceful, and wild animals soon learned to stay away from us. Then I and the rest of us learned of the Kindergarten, and how the entire world would die. All we did here seemed meaningless, and killing the entire planet seemed pointless. Then there were riots, clashes and a full blown war when the followers of Rose Quarts attacked. I was sent to build defenses on the frontline. I never understood why this planet was so important that thousands had to die. A clash of principles, I suppose. The other non-combatants agreed, and we founded what we called the Shielding Hand. We helped those that were injured on the battlefield and protected them from having their gemstones crushed. Surprisingly, our actions seemed to make some difference, as a similar group was founded in the Cristal Gems as well. We contacted them, and begun a peace movement. We had connection and supporters on both sides, and we started trying end the war. After a while we actually managed to open a dialog and the sides agreed to set a truce for some time. High ranking members from both sides came to the talks, and we were supposed to be the bridge between them. But they had other plans. They saw it as an opportunity to wipe out the enemy, and attacked. We were caught in the crossfire, and the peace talks became a bloodshed. And when both sides failed, we were blamed. We were marked as traitors, outsiders who deserved nothing but hatred. We went underground, and we changed. None of us were actual fighters, we were constructionists, healers, engineers. We were close, and when so many of us died, we didn't know how to cope with it. We started calling ourselves Fragments, and drew lines on our gemstones, as if they were fragmented when our friends died. We were so tired of all the fighting, and we wanted revenge. "

Lapis listened to the tale and a dread feeling started taking hold of her. The loss of many friends and crushed dreams was not unfamiliar to Lapis, and although she felt horrified at what the end of the story would be like, she understood the pain in Galenites voice.

"We knew where the next battle would take place. We still had supporters, so gathering required supplies was not difficult as well. We took our positions on a hill overlooking the future battleground. Bombs were planted beneath the opposing forces. We had dug trenches and had brought Gems who could summon shields to protect us. As the forces charged at each other, we pulled the trigger."

Galenites voice broke and carried off. She was not crying, but was close to it.

She remembered the smell of smoke as they had emerged from their trenches. Like ghosts, they had descended the hill and made their way towards the battlefield. Some Homeworld Gems had not been caught in the blast radius, and were trying to make out what had happened. Galenite had seen a still intact gemstone before her feet. She picked it up, and threw it down. Pieces of shattered gems rained like hail as others followed. She remembered how the shattered splinters had hurt her feet, as she had felt nothing while she continued her grim job.

"We were captured by Homeworld Gems, and brought to that facility where you found me. All others were executed, slowly. My turn had just come up when the place was attacked. Since the Crystal Gems did not know what I had done, I was left alive. And when they left, I was left there as well."

Galenite lapsed into silence while Lapis processed what she had heard. She felt sorry for the grey Gem, sorry for her loss. She had not expected Galenite to say anything at all, much less her life story. "What are you going to do now?" Lapis raised her head and thought. "Nothing. That was the past. Now we have different problems, and we can't reject a Gem just for something they did. Both I and Peridot have done things that are not right. When my gemstone was cracked, I was different. I almost killed those that tried to help me. " She rose up. "Let's go"

The two walked back into the Spire, their path lighted by the moon.

Peridot, Lapis and Galenite all looked at the fire that Peridot had lighted in the centre on the main room. While Lapis and Galenite had talked, she apparently became so bored or nervous that she had continued Lapis's work, and had just finished her third hammock when the other two had returned. Lapis and Galenite were both in their makeshift beds, while Peridot had not even bothered to put hers up. She remained true to her decision to not sleep, and when Lapis had inquired about the third hammock, Peridot had only shrugged. .

"I have an idea." Lapis broke the silence. "About what?"

"What we should call ourselves." Galenite rose up in her bed while Peridot seemed uninterested. "Why should we name ourselves anyrhing." "Why not?" "That doesn't make any sense, Lapis."

"Peridot, don't be such a mood spoiler." Galenite had completely joined in the conversation, "Go on, Lapis. What do you suggest?"

Lapis remained silent for a moment "Shattered Gems. ", she finally said in a quiet voice. Peridot snorted; "Shattered Gems? Like the Crystal Clods? Come on, Lapis, we are a group of abandoned Gems, not superheroes." "What do you suggest yourself, Peridot?" " _I_ suggest we remain anonymous. It's not like we want anyone to know who we are." "Well, I think it is a great idea, Lapis."

"Thank you Galenite." Lapis turned her attention towards the green Gem, "It's two against one, Peridot. Suggestion has been approved and carried out. We shall now be known as Shattered Gems. I'm going to sleep."

"I don't get what you find in it, Lapis."

"Have you ever dreamed, Peridot?"

"I tried once. I saw that I was falling, and I woke up. What?" She looked at the other two Gems, who had started laughing. "It's not funny, you know."

Laughter grew louder, and was carried out of the Spire with the night wind. Soon it was silent again, but the light that shone from the windows remained until dawn.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again. I would like to thank my faithful rewier Randal, thanks to whom I have now written the third chapter and 10 000 words of the Shattered Gems fanfiction. Yey, (confetti and stuff. Party hats, maybe). You are awesome. All of you. Rewiev, give suggestions, the usual. Thank you for your time.**

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The Shattered Gems

Chapter 3

Shop till you drop

The Shattered Gems had stayed in the Spire for about a week. Galenite and Lapis kept themselves busy with refurnishing the building or exploring the surrounding areas and searching for food. But the main restoration and been completed, the holes on the ceiling were covered up, larger cracks covered up and rubble moved out of the rooms and vine curtains hanged to indicate "rooms". And Peridot, who had kept herself busy with these things, had nothing to do. With no machines to work with, her attempts at craftwork ending rather badly and her dignity not allowing her to sleep, she grew bored. Lapis could swear that she was wearing a circle in the floor with her walking. Both she and Galenite had thought about the matter and had agreed that they needed to do something. Peridot had started complaining all the time and on one occasion had tried to pick a fight with Galenite. But Lapis had a plan.

"Peridot, could you tell me something?"

Peridot stopped walking for a moment. "What do you want to know?"

"Do you remember what the crates in the refinery contained?"

Peridot frowned as she dug up the memory. "Replacement parts for the machines and some power cores, I think. They looked as if they were all from the same shipment. Why?

"I want you to go and get them."

"With what point? I would need the central components to connect them with anything.". She snorted "Unless of course you would be suggesting I build a module from scratch, which would be totally…" She stopped, looked at Lapis and saw her expression "You can't be serious." "As serious as ever, Peridot." "But it would take ages…" Peridot tried to protest "Well, then it should give you something to do." Lapis smiled. "Go bring these parts and Galenite and me will figure out next.". She gave Peridot a gentle push towards the door. Peridot gave up and walked down the staircase, past Galenite, who was carrying a chair, and exited the Spire. Lapis sighted, and laid down in her bed as Galenite entered the room. "Where does this go?" "Just put it somewhere. When you finish with the table, you can set them up by the west wall." "Yes, queen Lapis. And after that? Should I start building your tower with a view of the sea?" Lapis laughed, "Maybe later. But if you could pass that bowl next to you, it would be a start. Oh, come on." Galenite had picked the bowl up and moved it further away from Lapis. "You can go get it yourself."

Peridot walked through the dark halls. Everything seemed even creepier than the last time, maybe because she was alone. The facility was on a standby mode for now, but would soon shut down for good. Maybe one of the smaller generators could be salvaged?

The depot looked just like they had left it, the signs of their battle with the Crystal Gems still untouched. She walked next to the opened crate and started rummaging through its contents. She stockpiled everything that seemed useful. Computer parts, power sources, circuits, all thousands of years old. And Lapis wanted her to make it into something useful. She stopped the thought as she found a small locked metal box. The lock was easy to overcome, and the rusty hinges squeaked as they revealed the contents. It contained a dark green knife, with a button where the blade touched the hilt. A nano-blade. Cutting edge technology, she smirked, some millennia ago. She had heard about them and even seen one. They had apparently been a priced gift for Gems with a power such as hers. The blade was a superconductor, but if the button was pressed, electrons in the blade would slow, and the conductivity would fall. The knife could then be heated with electricity to an incredibly high temperature, being able to cut most things like butter. She looked at it uncertainly. She did not like physical weapons and it had belonged to someone else, but in times like these, a sharp blade could easily save her life. And it was also in such a beautiful color. Her Gem glowed as she stored it inside there to conceal it, and rose up. She had already wasted enough time, and many crates were still unopened. After her find, she felt a strange feeling in her stomach when opening the remaining crates, but nothing as interesting came up. Using her tractor beam, she picked up the pile and left, feeling a little bit safer.

"Peridot, you are back!" Something in Lapis's voice told Peridot that things were not good. "Listen, we have another job for you." "But I wanted to get started on the…" "You can do it later." Lapis handed her a large green leaf, forcing Peridot to turn off the tractor beam. "What is that?" "There are coordinates to a warp pad nearby a human settlement. On the other side is a shopping list." Peridot held the leaf that had something scribbled on it with berry juice like it could bite her. "Lapis, what am I going to pay with?" "We pried some mineral gems from the wall decorations. Humans apparently price them." She handed Peridot a small basket with gems. "I look ridicules with this." "Don't worry, you will be fine."

Again Peridot walked down the staircase, again she passed Galenite, who gave her a sympathetic look, and finally reached the warp pad. She looked at the leaf, cursed Lapis, and warped.

"Welcome to Minetown!" "Bugger off!" Peridot was not in a good mood. The 'nearby' settlement had been an hour walk from the warp pad. An hour! She realized she was being punished, but the next time she would be asked to do something like that, she would just laugh. The human who had welcomed her took a step back, but did not seem very insulted. Apparently, this was a part of his job. "Wait!" Peridot called out. "Yes?" "Where is the closest," she looked at the leaf, "jeweler?" "Down the Porter street." Seeing Peridot still standing there, he continued. "Just walk a few blocks up this street, turn left and then right. You can't miss it." Peridot nodded, and started walking. There were surprisingly many humans on the streets, and it seemed to her that their only purpose was to push her and step on her feet as they walked by. She fought the urge to hit someone and kept going. Some humans had stopped on the edge of the street, looking at a red light on the other side. Peridot pushed past them, took a few steps on the road, and hearing a voice yelling at her, turned left to see a human vehicle drive towards her. She raised her hand and fired out an electromagnetic blast. The car stopped just in front of her, and she kept walking. It would be a long day.

Soon enough she had figured out the basics of human movement rules on the streets. Humans could cross car paths at designated spots, and the both took alternating turns when moving, indicated by a hanging light. A green light meant GO, while red meant STOP. But Peridot did not care as she crossed roads. There were not many cars anymore that dared to try to run her over. Finally, she saw a sign on a wall with a picture of a gemstone on it and a large viewing window with a large selection of jewelry. She stepped in and saw a single man behind the counter, who did not bother to lift his head. "Hello and welcome to Johannsen and Brothers. How can I help you?" He looked up and saw Peridot only inches from his face. "I would like to sell these." She poured the gemstones on the counter and threw the basket away. The cashier gave them a quick look, was about to say something, looked at the gems again, then Peridot, then the gems again. With shaking hands he picked a few up and examined them. With a weak voice, he said "These are real." "Of course they are." Peridot was losing her patience. "Even with minimal prices, we can't pay for more than a third…" "Then give me all the money you have." The cashier looked up, saw that she was serious and said : "Of course, of course. Would you look at our wares until I go and get the money." The man almost ran to the back room. Peridot looked around a little bit until the he returned with a briefcase that looked heavy. He opened the counter and emptied its contents into the already full case. "I would take that as well." Peridot pointed to a silver necklace with a blue gem. She would need something to bribe Lapis with so that she would delegate these jobs to Galenite. "You have a very good taste, madam." Peridot gave him an unamused look while he opened the display case and but the necklace in a small compartment in the case. He then handed it to Peridot and with the words "Please come again." almost pushed her out of the store. Peridot looked back to see him looking through the window, but when he realized she had seen him, ran away to the back room, almost falling over in the process. Humans were weird.

Peridot could see the large 'mall' some distance away. She stepped in an alleyway to reach there quicker, but froze as she heard someone behind her. "What's in the case?" She turned around and saw that two humans had been hiding at a corner. A sound behind her back indicated that some more humans had blocked her way out as well. "I ask again, what's in the case?" "None of your business." She raised her free hand and shot a few energy bolts at the humans, then turned around, used her tractor beam to pick up a large thrash can and hurled it down the alleyway to clear it. Humans were gone faster that the speed of light, but her mood was still dropping. It did not improve when the mall proved to be full of people. She took a few carts and turned her sights to the list. The berry juice was spread out and many words were hard to read. She struggled to find all the things, no easy task when apparently even Lapis was not sure what they all were. "A sweet bubbly drink? White biscuits, can't remember the name?" Peridot frowned as she read the rest of the list. The human technology such as 'TV', 'radio' and computers were easy to find. But many humans wanted the exact same things as she. Her strength and tractor beam were useful here, to move people as well as pick up some items were in the most hard to reach places like the very top of the shelves, stacked in pyramids and even other shopping carts that had price tags on them. There was no system whatsoever. When she finally got both of the carts full, she headed to the check out. And just as her luck would have it, there were only two active cashiers, forcing her to take her position one of the large queues. It seemed as every person had bought as much as she had and they all used pennies to pay for them, as the queues moved slower than the continents of the miserable planet. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally paid by throwing most of the money she had on the counter and continued to walk to the exit. When one of the workers tried to stop her, saying that the carts were owned by the store, she simply used money to shut him up. At least that seemed to be working.

A giant wave of humans suddenly pressed into the store, apparently not from the desire to buy something, but rather running away from something. Peridot had no time to wonder as she was forced to hold against the pushing mass. When she finally exited, she was in the mood to kill someone. And when she nearly crashed into some people after taking a corner, she shouted "You clods, watch where you are going!" She grew silent as she realized who were in front of her. Pearl, Amethyst and the boy, Steven stood as if frozen in place. Just as Pearl was about to say something, Peridot cut her of "Don't even open your mouth. I have had more than enough problems to deal with. Firstly I was sent here, in the middle of all these imbeciles, someone tried to rob me and I just spent an hour waiting in a line just to pay for these things. These things that I don't even know what they all are." She pulled out the leaf, tore it in half and kept yelling. The Crystal Gems did not even dare to move, and only carefully exchanged glances. "…and then, OF COURSE, I run into you clods. The very reason I am even stuck on this pathetic planet! Why did you even come HERE, of all places?" Amethyst pointed at something behind her. Peridot turned and saw the reason why the people had fled into the mall.

A giant spider-like monster was walking towards them. However, where it's eyes should have been, were instead eight mouths. It's eyes were scattered around body and it's joints were ball shaped crystals.

"OH, how could I have forgotten that you people revel in the misery of others. Logically there would be some giant monster around, creating the destruction you so much like. Hold these." She pushed the carts to Pearl and started walking towards the monster. "Pearl, what do we do now?" Pearl did not answer Amethysts question, as she was unsure of the whole question herself. They had heard a rumor of a Gem monster and had decided to check it out while going to visit a amusement park. The last thing Pearl had expected was to run into Peridot who, from the looks of it, had done some shopping.

The monster roared as Peridot approached it. "Oh, you think that will scare me? My day has been so bad it can't get any more worse." She picked up a car with her tractor beam and threw it at the monster. "Frankly, this fight will probably just make my mood better." Another car flew towards the creature who caught it and threw it back. Peridots right hand fingers flew to form a light green shield. The car exploded, but the shield absorbed the force of the explosion and Peridot walked out of the smoke.

"That was awesome!" Pearl looked down to see Steven completely absorbed in the fight. There were some flashes as Peridot fired and the creature answered in kind. "Should we go and help her?" Amethyst looked more serious, but was still paying close attention to the clash. Even Pearl had to agree the sight was relatively amusing. "No, she is fine. Let's just see what will happen"

"Come on!" Peridot yelled as the creature turned around to apparently escape. She caught one of its legs with the tractor beam and pulled, causing it to trip. It rose and turned around with a single intention: to kill the green Gem. As it started moving towards Peridod, she started running as well. She gathered speed, and slid under the monster. On the other side, she ran up a wall and pushed herself off. Time seemed to slow as she did a flip and pulled the dagger out of her gemstone. She saw everything at once, the Crystal Gems staring with open mouths, the monsters eyes following her while she was in the air, the reflection of a bystanders camera as she filmed the entire thing. And somehow, although she did not like fighting, the whole day had been worth it. She also knew what to do next, how to act. She saw it as clearly as it would have already happened. Time returned to normal as she landed on the creatures back and stabbed down. The spider roared one last time, and turned into a flash of yellow light. Peridot landed on one of her knee, with her free hand stretched out, and caught the yellow gem in her palm. She rose up looked at it and walked back to the still Crystal Gems.

"Here." She threw the gem to Pearl, took the shopping carts and started walking away. She felt calm, her previous anger forgotten and replaced with a slight tiredness.

Pearl was the first to come back to her senses. "Amethyst, take Steven back to the van." She handed the gemstone to her as well. "Where are you going?" "Find out where she is going." She went after Peridot, leaving the other two alone.

"I'm sorry Steven that we could not go to the amusement park. It sounded like it would have been awesome." "Are you kidding, Amethyst? This was the coolest thing ever! You think the lady who filmed it would agree to share it?" He took out his smartphone and started running. "Steven, wait for me!"

About a half an hour later Pearl returned to find Amethyst and Steven both looking at Steven's phone and eating ice cream. "Pearl! Come look. We have a video of the fight." "Steven, I don't need to watch it again. I was there when it happened." "What did you find out about Peridot?" Amethyst changed the topic to the Gem that was the star of the video. Apparently she had stopped a van on the road, had pulled the driver out, stopped his complaints with money and had loaded her things in the back. After that she had stayed there for some time while she learnt to operate the car, and had driven off towards south. "She must have been headed for the warp pad at the Pillars of Balance." Pearl concluded. As they got in their own car, Amethyst asked; "How are we going to explain this to Garnet?" "We will just tell her exactly what happened." "And you think she will be happy with us that we didn't try to stop her." "She will understand. I am sure. I think."

Lapis was sitting on the balcony when she caught a flash of light at the corner of her eye. The warp pad had activated, and something had formed a dust cloud along the path. She looked closer and her eyes filled with shock.

Peridot swore. Maybe warping the car through and attempting to drive it to the Spire had not been the best idea. The road was narrower than she remembered, the curves were tighter and the hills were more inclined both sides. She was not driving it, she was just attempting to not plummet to her death. She reached the top of the last hill and saw the Spire at the end of the road. The road that ended at the end of the cliff. She hit the brakes and turned the wheel. The car slowed, but not as fast as she would have liked. It stopped at the very end of the road, hung in balance on the right side tires, and dropped back on all fours. Peridot let go of the wheel and saw Lapis and Galenite rushing to the door.

"Peridot!" Lapis opened the door and almost pulled her out. "I'm fine, let me go." "I did not you can drive." Galenite examined the car. "Actually, I can't." "No kidding. You almost fell down the cliff. What happened anyway? You look like you got into a battle on the way back." "You are not far off. I'll tell the story tomorrow. I'm too tired right now." "You are going to sleep?" Lapis pretended to be shocked, "You, Peridot the Unsleeping. How is that possible" "Very funny. Do you have anything against it?" "No, knock yourself out. We will take the stuff upstairs and wake you up in the morning." Perodot nodded and started going up. Soon the van was emptied out as well, and only the Spire watched over its inhabitants, guarding their sleep and listening to their breathing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again. I will start this with an apology. Im sorry this took so long to publish, but this fanfiction was not a really top priority this week. The dark eldritch creature that is school is pushing its dark tendrils deeper into my life, draining me of free time. I also ran into a writers block, and managed to delete the almost finished version of this chapter. In fact, for a time I was doubting if I would even keep writing this. But ill try, and I will apologise if the chapters turn out badly written. Writing in english is a lot harder than I thought in the biggining. But enough of my ranting, here is the fourth chapter. Enjoy, follow, fav, review, do whatever you want.**

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The Shattered Gems

Chapter 4

The Gem that liked me

Two days passed after the Minetown incident. The morning of the third day was quiet in the Spire. The afternoon, on the other hand, was not.

"Peridot! Peridot! Peridot! Come on, don't be such a clod." "Simply stating my name again and again will not produce results, Lapis. I will not set the TV up for you. I don't have the time. Your can do it yourself." "But I tried. And so did Galenite." "I was trying to shut you up." Galenite said quietly. "And you failed miserably on both of these tasks." Lapis turned her attention back to Peridot. "We are only asking for one thing, Peridot." Peridot sighted "It's not as easy as connecting it with the power core. I would also have to make a device to catch the signals that are sent out with satellites…" Her voice carried off as her fingers formed a screen, which was soon filled with equations and blueprints. "So, will you help?" Lapis asked carefully. Peridot rose her head as if waking from a dream ,thought for a second, and looked at the pile of electronics that Galenite had bought. A silent agreement had been made between Lapis and Peridot, and now only the grey Gem was sent to fetch things that were needed. The gemstones in the wall decorations were now treated as a deposit box of sorts. "Fine, but only on two conditions. Firstly, you two will leave me alone for the three hours I require." Seriously?" Galenite seemed tired, but Lapis was not disheartened by the statement "And the second demand?" "Stop using my catchphrases. Clod is my word." The other two laughed, and started going, Galenite dragging her feet, as if to make a statement. "We will go to the beach near the Past Circle." "Oh, will we? Who made you the king?" "Your vote, Galenite." The other two kept arguing friendly and left.

Peridot stood there for a few minutes. She had bluntly lied. The device was simple enough to be constructed in an hour. But she needed time for her other project. Why could she not just say it out, but had to hide it like that. The previous her would not have cared if she hurt the feelings of other Gems, much less the feelings of two traitors. But the previous her had not known Lapis or Galenite, had not been stuck on this cursed rock. She had almost started losing her sanity when Lapis found her. Peridot had slowly started seeing things in shadows of night. But Lapis and her care-free attitude had somehow given her hope that she could live through the ordeal. She wondered if she was doing the right thing keeping it a secret, or if she was just betraying the trust of others.

Galenite and Lapis passed the van that was now parked near the warp pad. Galenite noticed that Lapis was wearing the necklace that Peridot had bought. The two seemed to have a friendship that had started off as hate of disliking, and now they seemed to be trying to make up for it. She had always been good at reading other Gems, she didn't even have to use her power. Simply the way someone walked, talked and otherwise interacted with others could tell a lot. She could also tell that the other two were afraid of something. Being abandoned, maybe? Lapis had filled her in with the basics that had happened to them and Peridot had dropped some hints about Homeworld, but they had been more quiet about some other topics, such as Jasper and why Crystal Gems hated Peridot so much. She did not have much more time to think, as they stepped on the pad, and warped.

Galenite blinked to clear her sight and look at her surroundings. The Cyrcle was different from typical Gem architecture. It was a circle of spires and pillars made from black stone, which seemed to be growing out of the ground. The mosaic images were a bizarre collection of shapes and colors, and supposedly no Gems or human saw the same pictures. Galenite had been here, a millennia ago. And again she felt …a strange forbidding feeling. The warp pad was placed here for so specific reason, apparently only so that the maps of the region would not look so empty. Interestingly, there had already been a human stone circle here before, and below the ground were signs of something even older.

Lapis had already started walking on the path that lead to a shoreline. The beach was not empty, there were humans swimming, playing and just laying on the sand. Galenite faintly remembered that if they were exposed to sunlight, their skin gained a brownish tint for some weird human reason. Many things about them were strange; their bodies seemed to act on their own sometimes. Galenite and Lapis both sat down on the sand. "So, why are we here?" "To relax. Like humans do." "I don't get humans." Galenite complained. "You can relax perfectly fine while doing something useful that you like.". Galenite lay down on her back, staring in to the sky. "What are you thinking about?" Galenite shrugged at Lapis's inquiry. "Philosophical questions." "Like what?" Lapis seemed to be enjoying the asking game. "Why are you here?" Galenite answered. "I already told you, we are here to rela…" "That's not what I meant. Why are you here, Lapis? You can always leave Earth, can't you?" "And where would I go? Fly to my execution?" Both remained quiet for some more. "Why do you think Peridot is staying with us?" Galenite was pretty sure she already knew the answer, but the silence was a bit too uncomfortable. "Strength in numbers, that's what she told me." "What strength? It's not like we are going to fight anyone? Why do you think that she hasn't tried to leave anymore?" "She is probably afraid of the punishment for her failure of reactivating the Kindergarten. She was given a ship and a war veteran, and she was not up for the task." The conversation sunk into silence once more as they watched a small child fighting with a few seagulls over a sandwich. Galenite rose up and said: "Well, this was boring. Let's go walk."

Few minutes later they heard a sound carried by the wind. As they walked onwards, they came upon a sight of tents, strange spinning objects and a large construction that resembled a railway in the sky. The whole thing was noisy, as people screamed, laughed, yelled and as some strips of repeating music kept playing over and over again. For Galenite, who had not lived a very active social life for a while, it seemed a bit overwhelming. "What is this place?" Lapis seemed hypnotized by the flashing lights and the spinning things. "Izcacks traveling fair, apparently." Galenite read from a poster. "It will make the night into a day for the whole week, only 10.99 per person. What do you think, Lapis? Lapis?" She looked around and saw that Lapis had already walked to the main gate. Galenite cursed and ran after her.

"Ma´am! You need to pay money for the tickets. Money. Ever heard of it?" Lapis had been stopped by a worker who clearly was not in a mood for jokes. "Excuse me, coming through!" Galenite pushed through the people, passed the worker and stuffed some money into her hand. "Two tickets, please." She tried to smile, accepted the pieces of paper, and pushed Lapis forwards. "Ok Lapis, time to wake up now." "You don't need to act like I'm a child, Galenite." She looked around. "Where shall we go first?" "Are you even sure that this is a good idea?" Galenite tried protesting. "You are sounding like Peridot. What could go wrong?"

…

 _Indeed, what could?_ Galenite thought to herself. "Lapis, how are you feeling?" "Better…". Lapis's voice was weak. Galenite was no healer, but she was sure that a Gems color should not gain a green color if it was something else before. "Better? That's good, isn't it?" "Better move before I throw up on you."

Galenite took a step back. The whole thing started out well. They had eaten pink fluffy stuff, had thrown balls at metal cans and won a water gun, Lapis had even given a small show with her water powers. Then they had eaten strange things on sticks called corn dogs, walked through a corridor of bent mirrors and a dark maze with smooth mirrors and flashing lights. Lapis had enjoyed the whole experience more than Galenite, who had trouble adjusting to such a large crowd. Then they had reached the things called carousels. "Well, look at the bright side. At least you did not vomit." "I think I would have felt much better after that." "But imagine of you had thrown up while on the carousel." Lapis did not answer, either because she thought over it or was trying not to vomit. Galenite had always puzzled over how Gems who lived on Earth and dealt with humans begun to take over human characteristics. Their bodies were just illusions, they did not need to eat, sleep, drink or breathe. But soon they started changing their bodies more complex. Galenite had tried many human ways, and found eating and dreaming both enjoyable. But if one did such things too often, you kind of became addicted to it. You always wanted to take the next breath, the next heartbeat, fearing of returning to the lifeless illusion that you actually were. So she had been careful with humans. In fact she was surprised at how humans were not driven insane by their bodies that they did not seem to have control over. But maybe they already were, judging by the many strange things they did.

"Ok, I think it is wise to call it a day, or what do you think, Lapis?" Lapis nodded. "Can you walk?" Another nod and the blue Gem rose up. The two walked away from the commotion and back to the warp pad. It was only afternoon, since they had arrived in the morning. But it felt much longer for both of them.

Peridot was awoken from her thoughts by the distant flash of the warp pad. She realized she had been doing nothing for over ten minutes, cursed, and turned back to her work. Her project was going fine, but she still needed more parts. Parts that the Crystal Gems definitely had. She sighted and leaned back on crude wooden chair. They had done so little since coming here, besides redecorating the place. But then again, what could the possibly do besides staying low and evading danger? As she pondered, Lapis and Galenite raced in through the balcony, a ritual that they had started the first day they were here. "Hi, Peridot." The green Gem nodded at Lapis's welcome. "Had fun at the beach?" She responded. Lapis said nothing, and sat on the long seat that served as the couch. "Is the TV online?" "Yes, but I still don't get why we need it." Lapis examined the remote, "To spend time. How do I turn it on?" "The red button. The buttons on the right change channels." "Thanks." Lapis turned the TV on as Galenite sat next to her. The screen lit up, displaying a screen of some forest. "I also set up the Internet, so feel free to use the "legtop"." "The laptop." Lapis corrected. "Whatever. Also, as it turns out, the signal catcher that I built is…" Her voice went more quiet as she leaned in to the others, "Illegal." "No!" Lapis gasped with shock in her face, but her eyes were laughing. "We are criminals now. Outlaws." "You mean we are only slightly larger criminals now. Peridot still smashed up a street when fighting the monster and hijacked a car." "I paid for that car!" Peridot objected to Galenites accusations. "And I was fighting in self defense!" "Charging at it and yelling "Come at me!" is self defence?" Galenite laughed and Peridot turned her chair around, as if she was deeply insulted.

"…I'm telling you, the lord's son is an imposter." Galenite raised her voice. "But why would he kill the girl? The policeman had much more reasons to commit murder." Lapis argued back. Peridot listened to the voices, that got louder and louder "Can you two quiet down? Some people are trying to work." She paused for a moment as the other two quieted down "And the butler did it." " How would you know?" Lapis looked at Peridot, as if she was lying "Reasons." Peridot simply did not want to confess that it was a rerun and that she had seen it when she had connected the TV.

Silence grew over the room as the show entered another commercial brake. Peridot breathed in as she prepared to hopefully start a conversation that would bring the dreams of her escape closer to her. "If only we knew what the Crystal Gems were doing." "If only pigs had a hundred legs, then I could call them centipigs." Peridot was thrown completely off the guard by Galenites statement. Even Lapis seemed confused. Galenite suddenly realized that the other two were staring at her. "What?" "What did you just say? About the pigs?" Lapis asked carefully. "Oh, uh, it's a human saying I heard once." "And what had that to do anything with what I said?" Peridot inquired. "Well, not much." "So, why did you say it?" "Well, that's the thing about it. If someone says something in the line of "If we had…" or "I wish that…" then you say it. " "And what do the centipigs have to do with it?" Galenite sighted, apparently regretting that she had said it in the first place. "There are no centipigs. Pigs only have four legs. Talking about them is as pointless as talking about things that we don't know or that don't exist. Can we just move on with our lives, please?" "Of, course." Lapis seemed as eager to end the topic as Galenite. "Peridot, you were saying?" "I said that it would be nice to know what the Crystal Gems are planning, so that we would know how to avoid them better. We can't just go around blindly and run into them like I did." "Well, you can always stun them with your fighting skills, Peridot." Galenite mocked. "And how do you suppose we even do, spy on them? Park our van outside of their house and monitor them?" she continued. "Planting a listening device would be much easier." Lapis said, while still watching the TV. "A listening device. I like that." Peridot formed her finger-screen and begun tapping on it. "Wait, you are seriously thinking about this." Disbelief echoed in Galenites voice. "Lapis, say something." Lapis thought for a moment. "This might actually be a good idea. We can work on our team bonding this way." Galenite rose and took a step away from the others. "When exactly did both of you go insane?" "We have just been sitting here. If we don't do anything, we might very well go insane." Peridot kept her voice calm, but was cheering on the inside. This was going much better than she expected. "But we need a plan, and time to prepare." "At least you have that much sense." Galenite had seemed to have given up. She sat down again and thought. "Lapis, you said that you were inside their house once, didn't you." "It was a while ago, and I was stuck in a mirror." "But do you still have the memory?" Lapis seemed puzzled "Why do you want to know?" "I have the power to see the pasts of other Gems. I could look at your memories and maybe draw a blueprint to figure out where to place the device, if we make it to that point." "Do we need it?" Galenite shrugged. "Not really, but better to go in informed. Besides, it will give me something to do. Could you turn your back please?" Lapis hesitated for a moment, but complied. Galenite took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they had turned completely white, and reflected the surroundings. She rose her left arm, with the cubical gemstone in her palm glowing with a silvery aura, and touched Lapis's blue tear shaped gem. There was a flash, and when Lapis turned around again, she saw that Galenite had taken a step back, her hands at her temples and her eyes back to normal. "Are you alright?" Lapis herself had not felt anything, only a slight tingly feeling in the back of her head. "I'm fine. It's just the memories." Galenite explained. "They are not just images or alone emotions. If I look into someone's past, I see and feel everything they felt at that moment. And that is just when I am going through the memories, when I…" she struggled for a moment to find the right word "… copy them, they become a part of me. It can be a little overwhelming. ""Well, what did you feel?" Peridot sensed a slight hint of guilt in Lapis's voice. "Being stuck in a mirror. But I'm fine now." Galenite shuddered for a moment, and started searching for something to draw on.

It was dawn by the time they all had finished. All meaning Peridot. Lapis had requested a special piece of equipment from her, a headpiece. It had one little blue glass screen that covered Lapis's right eye, and a microphone and a ear piece for communication. The screen acted as both as a camera for the observers and a HUD for Lapis, Peridot had complained the decision, but Lapis had been adamant. She donned the headpiece, armed herself with the green water gun she won at the fair and took a dramatic pose. "How do I look?" "With your eyes, Lapis." Commented passing Galenite, ignoring the look the blue Gem gave her. "I don't get how your looks are going to help us with the mission." Peridot further mocked Lapis. "Are we ready to go?" She turned her attention to Galenite, who had just picked up some parts from Peridots work station. "I think so. Lapis had the bug and the laptop is in the van." "Let's move then. Go! Go! Go!" Lapis ran down the stairs, leaving the other two there. "I'm putting a child lock on the TV." Peridot promised.

"I forgot to ask, nut how did you exactly warp with the van?" Galenite asked as they all stood in front of the machine. "Simple. I just changed some parameters of the warp ray, increasing the radius to fully cover it. But it had some downsides." Galenite grew careful at the statement. "Like what?" "Well, the precision of the warp fell drastically, so it just kind of crashed down five meters left of the pad." Peridot tried to sound reassuring, but the other two remained unconvinced. "Hey, we either take the van to the closest location and drive there, or we can walk. It's up to you." She entered the van, with Lapis taking the seat next to her and Galenite sitting in the back. They had made a hole in the wall that separated the back and the front, and Galenite had attempted to place some chairs and a table there. Lapis had suggested that they paint the car, but there had been no time for that. They had agreed to try to launch the mission in the morning, as there was a higher chance for the Clods to be out that time. The blueprints of the house were put on one of the walls, and the laptop with the rest of Peridots equipment was stashed in a corner of the back compartment. "Hold on." Peridot activated her finger-screen, pressed a few buttons, and the van was embedded in light.

They appeared a few meters away from the Kindergarten pad. It crashed to the ground with a large thud, and in her mind, Galenite thanked Peridot, who had ordered all loose things to be nailed down if there was no other way. After making sure that everything was alright, the trip to the Beach City begun. For Lapis, it was somewhat amusing to watch Peridot drive along the road. While she had searched it up on the internet, she still apparently thought that rules did not apply to Gems and that honking the signal enough will solve all problems. Against all chances, they were not stopped by the police, and soon signs informing them that they had reached the target appeared. "Ok, we made it. Let's go over the plan again. Lapis, you will…" Galenite was cut off by sudden braking as Peridot attempted to parallel park on a street near a building with a large circular object on top. "…enter their house, while…" Brake, reverse, "…we will keep a lookout…" Shift gears, push pedal. "…you need to place the bug somewhere they spend a lot of time…" Brake, reverse, brake, gas. "Peridot, stop the car!" Peridot slammed on the brakes, making the car die out in the process. "Could you just park it, please?" "Try doing this yourself." Peridot snapped back. The van remained almost parked, so that it would not attract attention. "We first need to establish if they are even in the house. Where are the binoculars?" Galenite rummaged through some items while Peridot used her visor.

A few minutes later, Galenite said: "Ok, the purple one and the kid just left, looks like the house is empty." "They could be in the temple." "And they could be right outside the van, Peridot. This plan was never a good one in the first place." Galenite turned her attention to Lapis. "Are you ready?" Lapis nodded. She was nervous and slightly afraid, but ready. It was now or never. "If you go behind these buildings and hide there" Galenite pointed at a small collection of houses, "then they should pass by you. Good luck." Lapis opened the door, got out, and darted to hiding. As she sneaked behind the buildings, she heard the purple Gem she recognized as Amethyst and Steven walking by and discussing something about food. Steven. She peeked out, to catch a glimpse of him, if only for a second. He still looked the same, the same hair, the same happy attitude. Suddenly he turned around, as if knowing someone was watching him, but failed to see Lapis.

" _Peridot to Lapis, come in Lapis."_

"Yeah?"

" _You are free to move."_

"Got you."

" _You should be more serious about this, Lapis. Use words like "over and out" or something."_

" _Who is watching too much TV now, Peridot?."_ Galenite cut in. Lapis ignored the two argue by shutting the microphone off, and moved towards to the beach.

Lapis carefully opened the front door of the house and stepped in, holding her water gun before her. As she made sure the house was empty, she moved in and headed to the kitchen. Seeing as at least Steven spent a lot of time there, and as how everything said in the house could be heard relatively well, it seemed as the perfect place for the bug.

"Lapis, come in! By the stars, come in!" Peridot and Galenite had been arguing over if it was safe for Galenite to go and buy something to eat, when suddenly Peridot had seen the Steven heading back home. "We have to inform her somehow!" "And what do you mean by that Peridot? We would simply get cough." "Well, you were so intent on leaving a few minutes ago, what happened now, got scared?"

Pear and Garned returned from the store with the groceries. As they were walking home, something captured Pearl's attention. "What is going on in that van over there?" Pear looked at a badly parked grey van on the street. Noises erupted from it, and it was slightly moving. "Do you really want to go and find out, Pearl? I never knew you where that kind of a person." Pearl blushed out of anger and looked into Garnets face, which did not display any emotion behind the statement. She looked back at the van. "It looks familiar somehow. But I can't place it." "Well, I haven't seen it In Beach City." Garnet looked at Pearl and she almost saw a light bulb turn on over her head. "That's because it is not from Beach City. Leave the bags here, Garnet. I know whose van this is."

"There we go." Lapis stuck the bug under the kitchen table. She pressed a button on the earphone. "Lapis to Peridot. I placed it and …" _"Get off the car. Ahhh"_ "What?"Lapis heard something and turned around just in time to see the front door open.

Steven ran into the house. "Hi Lapis!" He grabbed a cheeseburger shaped back-pack from the living room table, and started to run out again. "Bye Lapis…" his voice trailed off as he slowly turned to face her. "Lapis?" "Um… Hi Steven. Nice to see you." "What are you doing here? Wait…" His eyes seemed to turn larger. "Are you on a mission?" Lapis thought for a moment. _"Lapis! Don't tell him anything."_ Peridot's voice rung from the headpiece. "Yes I am." _"No. Did you even hear me?! Get out, we will pick you up!"_ "I was sent here to break into the temple." "Really!" Steven did not let himself be disturbed by Lapis's statement. "That is awesome! You look like a spy from that movie last night." Lapis nodded. The idea of the headpiece had indeed come from a movie, along with the listening device. "I have to go now…" "Steven, what is taking you so long?" Steven moved aside as Amethyst walked in as well. She stared at Lapis, who was pointed her water gun at her. "What are you going to do with that? Moisture me to death?" Lapis pulled the trigger and the water bolt hit Amethyst straight in her chest. She flew back out of the door fell a distance before hitting the sand. Lapis started running, and after making it out of the door she formed her wings and took off.

 **Few minutes earlier.**

"No, Galenite. Don't go anywhere. We can't even let the Crystal Gems know we were ever here." A sudden knocking on the window almost made her jump. Without looking or thinking she lowered the glass and looked out, as if about to say something. The half finished sentence died as she looked into the face of a smiling Pearl. "Hi there, I thought I recognized your car." Peridot seemed to turn pale. "Hi." She pressed from between her closed teeth. "I haven't seen you since Minetown, Peridot. By the way, I forgot to thank you for helping us." "No. Problem." Peridot moved her hand on the igniter. "We. Have. To. Go. Now. Important buinsess… to …attend …to." She attempted to close the window, but it was stopped by Garnet's hand, who stepped into the view herself. "You are not going anywhere." Peridot froze for a moment, before pushing the button again, causing Garnets fingers to become trapped. She stepped on the gas and tired to drive off. The window broke as Garnet tore her hand free, and the van started accelerating.

"Damned Clods!" Peridot swore as they drove off. There was a bang as someone jumped of the roof and stabbed a white spear down, missing Peridot by inches. "Get off the car! Ahhh!"She almost crashed into a nearby building when she realized that Lapis had turned her headset back on. "I'm going out! You get Lapis." Galenite yelled. She opened the back of the van and pulled herself on the roof, her nanobots taking the shape of a grey sword. The two engaged in combat, trading a few blows, but were forced away from each other as the van took a steep right turn. Galenite used the moment to kick Pearl in her knee, causing her to fall over. She picked the white Gem up by her neck. "Put me down!" Pearl screamed . "As you wish!" Galenite complied by flinging her off the van.

Pearl flew through the air, and crashing on the road. As she slowly got up and tried to figure out which way was up, a more familiar vehicle stopped next to her. Garnet opened the passenger door of Graig's van. "Get in!" Pearl nodded and sat next to her.

"Did we lose them?" Peridot yelled from the broken window. "No! They have their own car!" Galenites sword formed itself into something resembling a laser, and she attempted to shoot at them. But either because the laser was just so inaccurate or Peridots driving so erratic, that all bolts flew high over the Crystal Gems. "Look, there's Lapis!" Galenite pointed at the blue Gem, who flew over Galenites head and shot a large sphere of water at their chasers. Graigs van drove off the road and hit a lamp post, giving the Shattered Gems time to drive out of town.

Pearl got out of the car and watched the grey van drive away. Lapis flew over them again, and Pearl attempted to throw her spear. It missed, and she was rewarded with another ball of water. "Give it up, Pearl. They are gone." Garnet stepped next to her and helped her get up. The two turned their attention at the wrecked car. "Greig is going to be so mad at us. We have thrashed his van twice now." "I am not worried about him. What were Peridot and Lapis doing here?" "Garnet! Pearl!" The two turned around to see Amethyst running towards them. She stopped to take a breath. "Lapis was in the house, but I drove her off. What happened with the car?" "The others were here as well." "Makes sense." "How's Steven?" Pearl suddenly asked, as if remembering something. "He's fine, not a scratch on him. I took a beating though. Lapis fired a water gun at me." "A water gun?" "Trust me, it was worse than it sounds. But what do we do now?" Pearl and Amethyst looked at Garnet. The fusion kept looking at the way the rouge Gems had escaped by. "We go home. They are too far away now to catch. Let's get the van." The three of them started pushing the wrecked car back.

"Steven!" Pearl ran and picked him up. "Are you ok?" "I'm fine. You can put me down." The Crystal Gems had returned home, and Steven had been waiting for them, as Amethyst had ordered. "Did you get them?" "Do we look like we did?" The purple Gem walked to the fridge and opened it. "We don't even know why they were here." "Lapis said she came because of the temple." The three Gems looked at Steven. "Did she?" "Yeah. She looked totally like a spy or something." "What would they want from the temple?" Pearl asked. "We don't know." Garnet replied. "But we do know that they are working together, and that they are still a threat. From now on, we don't leave the temple unguarded. Even if we are away on a mission, someone has to guard it." "Isn't that a little too rough?" Amethyst seemed unsure of Garnets plan. "I mean that they can't enter it anyways." "We can't take any chances."

Steven suddenly slapped himself on the forehead. "I totally forgot. I am late to meeting with Connie. We were supposed to practice music together." "Wait." Garnet stopped him. "Pearl is going with you." "Why?" "Yes, why?" The white Gem protested. "If only to make sure he gets there in time, Pearl. No arguments." She entered her room in the temple, indicating that the conversation was over. None of the people in the room had any idea of the small device that was transmitting everything they said directly to the inhabitants of the Spire.

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 **I hope you liked the chapter. How did you like the centipig thing Galenite said? I really liked the hotdog-porkchop thing, so I tried to do something like that myself.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello. And sorry. It has taken me too long to write this. I ran into a massive block, I gave up, I was actually afraid of writing. But thanks to a very friendly person on Reddit (thank you!) I have decided to keep writing this. But please be understanding, as this is still my first fanfic. Thank you for your time and understanding.**

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Steven, Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet gathered in the house to discuss their next move. It had been a week since the three rouge gems showed their faces in Beach city and for that whole time the Crystal Gems had done everything to find them, to no avail. The freedom of their enemies was a constant reminder of their inability to keep Steven safe. Their biggest clue, a video circling the internet only rubbed salt into the wound. It was a five minute long clip of Lapis using her powers to give a small show in some beach, with Peridot and the still unknown grey Gem in the background. Near the end, Lapis had sent a greeting to Steven, saying that hopefully they will meet again soon. Pearl, in the way only she could, freaked out and doubled the security around the house (doubling in this case meant forcing Amethyst to help her while Garnet went out alone). But besides the video, some fresh footprints in the Kindergarten, missing parts from the refinery and the blurry and scrambled beeps from the warp detector that Pearl had built from Peridot's escape pod some time ago, the Crystal Gems were no closer to finding their enemies.

"Maybe they don't want to fight anymore?" Pearl only laughed at Steven's suggestion. While the Gems did not need sleep, they had not rested at all, and that, along with a week's worth of paranoia, was starting to show. "Of course, how did I not think of that? Maybe they just want to become internet superstars and become integrated into the society..." She stopped talking and lowered her head. While Gems did not need sleep, they had not given themselves a moment to rest. "I'm sorry, Steven. It's just been a really long week." Steven agreed to that. It had been somewhat weird to know that Pearl watched him sleep, but Pearl watching you all day long had gotten really disturbing. Amethyst had brought some respite by constantly annoying Pearl, but Steven could swear that every time he was not looking and stood still, Pearl inched slightly closer. She was even slowly starting to show up in his dreams, standing quietly in the background. Garnet, or Detective Garnet as Amethyst had started calling her, was barely around at all, only coming home to check the detector before setting off again. But even she seemed to start growing tired.

"Steven has a point," Garnet said. "While finding Lapis and the others is still high on the list, we can't just keep running after them. We need to prevent them from getting stronger . They are the strangers here, this is our home. " "The Gehennom!" Pearl suddenly blurted out. "The what?" Amethyst and Steven asked in unison. Both seemed confused, but Garnet nodded in agreement. "We need to secure the Lens of Amplification." "Can you two slow down for a sec?" Pearl and Garnet turned her head as if only now noticing Amethyst and Steven were still there. "The Gehennom," Pearl explained, "is an arena deep underground. It was built for one purpose only, for hosting the Terminus." She sighted when the faces of her listeners were still filled with confusion. "The Terminus was an event that was hosted every time Gems…" she seemed to struggle to find the right word "…colonized… a new planet. The four Diamonds would then send their champions to battle for them. The Lenses were the ultimate prices. Only one would be made per competition, because they were so hard to produce. Winning it would bring eternal fame to the champions." Pearls voice seemed to trail off, and her gemstone started to glow as it produced a hologram of a large arena. "The Lenses had the ability to channel and amplify powerful energies, and traditionally the Diamond who won it would use it for a large project back on Homeworld. Oh, Steven, if only you could see those things. The Endless Tower, The Constant Warp Stream, the Diamond Moon" The hologram changed to show a gigantic crystal orbiting what Steven guessed was Homeworld. "The Lens in Gehennom would have been used on Earth, if it had been won by..." Pearl stopped talking. "But the Kindergarten was founded, the rebellion started and the arena drifted into the shadows of the past." The hologram died away, and the room seemed unnaturally dark without it. "In case of such an event, the Gehennom would shut itself down, and only reactivate once In a millennia. But it is doubtable that Lapis and Peridot know of this place, much less that it would be active…" She stopped to make a small calculation, "…tomorrow. Garnet, I don't really see why we even need to get it." Pearls voice, which had gotten a dreaming quality while talking about the arena, returned to normal. "We need to do something." Garnet said. "They should be the ones that are afraid." "So, it's a plan?" Steven tried to raise the slightly grim mood in the room. "Yes. We are going tomorrow. But for now it is time for you to go get some sleep."

 _The next day._

"Why did we leave Greg to guard the home? Remember what happened last time?" "He fixed the Geode, Pearl." Garnet reminded her. "And helped Steven get his confidence back." Amethyst added. Greg had taken a day off at the car wash, and was spending it by watching over the house. "He'll be fine." Garnet concluded. "We should see the arena any minute now.". They had been walking through a large cave system for ten minutes now. It had not been boring, though. Large caverns with crystal stalagmites , underground rivers and a large chasm had provided them with plenty of sights. They entered a large tunnel, which in turn lead to a even larger cave. Or at least Steven thought it was a cave. It was enormous. Underground area this large should not have existed. It felt as if they were in an inverted mountain. The whole place was surprisingly well lit, and when Steven was done at staring at the walls of the gigantic place, he saw the arena. _The Arena_. It deserved a capital letter. It looked only slightly larger than the Coloseum that Steven had seen in a book, but a large chunk of Rome surrounding it would have fit here with no problem. Amethyst seemed as stunned as he, but Pearl and Garnet did not give it a second look. As they begun moving towards it, more lights started to turn on, flags appeared out of nowhere, and it seemed, only seemed, that there were noises of commotion going around the Arena. Frankly, it felt about strange, as if the whole place was inhabited by ghosts. But friendly ghosts. The kind who wouldn't posses you, or jump out from a corner. Steven fumbled around a little bit, took his phone, and started taking pictures. "Steven, listen up. This place is safe, and since we are the only ones here, there should not be any problems with recovering the Lens." "Well, that would be boring, wouldn't it?", a familiar voice rung out behind them. The Crystal Gems froze as they heard the voice behind them, and turned around. They saw Lapis, Peridot, and the grey Gem standing behind them. Lapis was leaning against a wall, with the other two next to her. They looked calm, but tense, as if they were ready to bolt at any moment. "YOU!" Pearl summoned her spear, and jumped forwards. She was suddenly caught in a bubble, and a loud mechanical voice said: _"FIGHTING BETWEEN COMPETITORS OUTSIDE THE ARENA IS FORBIDDEN! THE FOLLWING HOSTILITIES WILL BE MET WITH FORCE"._ The bubble carried Pearl back to her companions, and popped, dropping its contents to the floor. "What are you doing here?" If looks could kill, the gemstones of the three Gems would have cracked under Pearls eyes. "We came to have a nice picnic with friends." Peridots voice was soaked in sarcasm. "And look how conveniently be bumped into you, clods." "And how long have you been here waiting for us." Steven inquired. There had been a certain annoyance in Lapis's voice. "Oh, only about three hours. To make sure Peridot would have a good comeback for whatever you were going to say." _" COMPETITORS! THE TERMINUS IS STARTING IN FIFTEEN MINUTES! MOVE TO THE PREPARATION AREA!"_ Everyone winced as the loud voice continued to echo in the cave. "Well, you heard it." Lapis stood upright. "We better get going. I would hate to get bad seats." The trio walked past the Crystal Gems, with Peridot making sure she would step on Garnets foot. At the last moment, the fusion moved slightly, causing the green Gem to trip and lose her balance for a moment. "This is bad." Pearl said when they were sure that they were alone. "How did they know to come here? How would the know when to come here? How…" "Maybe this isn't so bad." Pearl looked at Steven, whose eyes seemed strangely enthusiastic. He turned more serious. "Unless of course the fights are fought till death. That would be very bad." "Don't worry Steven, we will be fine." Garnet said "Yeah, it's them that you should be worried about." Amethyst did not seem concerned with the fact that their ´arch enemies´ had apparently challenged them to a fight. Garnet looked as stoic as ever, and served as a nice contrast to Pearl, who looked as if she was about to yell. "Am I the only one taking this seriously? How can you be so calm?" "Pearl, unless you are afraid of getting beaten up by those three nutjobs, I would calm down if I were you." "Let's go." Lead by Garnet, the group walked to what seemed like the main entrance.

The circular arena seemed empty at first, but suddenly a catwalk and four pedestals emerged from the ground. The Crystal Gems walked up to the closest pedestal. A beam of light erupted from it, somewhat similar to a warp pad, but not so bright. Lapis and her companions repeated the action on the platform opposite from them, and were basked in light as well. _"STATE THE NAMES OF YOUR TEAMS!"_ "The Crystal Gems!" "The Shattered Gems!" _"Seriously? They called themselves the Shattered Gems? Who do they think they are…?" "Shut up, Amethyst."_ Both Pearl and Amethyst were cut off by the loud voice yet again. _"FOR WHOM DO YOU FIGHT?"_ "We fight for the memory of Rose Quartz!" "We fight for… um... ugh…"An awkward silence settled over the scene as Lapis started to stutter. _"No, we are not going to fight for Yellow Diamond, Peridot. Let me think."_ Lapis spoke loudly again. "We are fighting for our… survival?" The lights suddenly grew unbearably light, and when Steven opened his eyes again, he was overlooking the arena. He and the rest had been warped to the tribune . He spotted Lapis on the other side of the Gehennom, and waved at her. _"THE FIRST BATTLE IS A TEST OF ELEGANCE AND THE MASTERY OF YOUR WEAPON. CHAMPIONS, RISE!"_ Pearl changed glances with Garnet, and rose up from her seat. She was warped to the now un-pedestalled arena, and summoned her spear. The other team seemed to argue, but soon enough came to a consensus, as the grey Gem stood up and joined Pearl. _"SAY YOUR NAME AND TITLE!"_ "I am Pearl the Valiant." Steven heard Amethyst snort next to him. The self-proclaimed title seemed to amuse her opponent as well, as she smiled lightly. "I am Galenite, the Marked." She said. Suddenly flags appeared on the walls behind the opponents. On Pearls side they were pink, with her round gemstone in the middle. The others were light blue and displayed a silvery cubical gem with a burn mark running across it. The arena floor suddenly changed as well, with large portions seemingly cracking and falling off, forming small floating islands for the competitors to stand on. Galenite cheered on the inside. Building giant structures required balance and the ability to map the area around you, so that you would not plummet into your death when moving on scaffolding. She had the advantage of the landscape. "Hey Pearl!" She called with a smirk on her face. "Don't look down.". Pearl looked down. The pit below them was bottomless. It was lit at regular intervals, but even the eyes of Gems could not see far enough.

Both contestants jumped across the arena to meet each other on a slightly bigger island at the centre. Galenites nano-bots formed themselves into a curved sword, and she and Pearl stood still, waiting for the other to make the first move. Suddenly, Pearl stabbed at Galenites chest. There were sparks as the weapons met mid-air, and were locked for a moment.

Steven watched the pair trade blows. Galenite was clearly the less experienced fighter as she struggled to block Pearls spear and strike back at her. The islands started moving, and soon they were in a middle of a whirlpool of moving land. Galenite tried a different approach, by jumping off the middle and moving across the smaller islands. Pearl gave chase, but apparently realized it was a trap as she was not able to move as fast as the grey Gem. She was forced to constantly check her footing in the changing landscape, while her foe danced around her.

Galenite cursed. She was still unable to land a blow on Pearl, and it was only a matter of time before she would land a lucky hit on her instead. She leaped away, to make Pearl chase her again. As Pearl jumped after her, Galenite charged forwards before she could even land. Pearl's eyes widened in shock as she saw her own reflection from Galenites eyes. Eyes that had no pupils. Their gemstones touched and everyone, including the spectators were blinded by a flash of light. When Pearl could see again, she saw Galenite shape sifting. Her body assumed an eerily familiar shape, and before Pearl could even blink, she was looking at herself. Or rather, a copy of herself, if she were colored grey. And lacked pupils. And had a sword, rather than a spear. Pearl stepped closer to her doppelganger. "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "Stop coping me!" "No!". The fake stabbed forwards, forcing Pearl back. _"Stab! Block! Slash!"_ The copy yelled, while the two engaged in a fight. _"Slash! Stab! Block!"_. The copy was apparently trying to confuse Pearl, as it did the opposite of what it said. "If you want to beat me, you are going to have to try harder." Pearl mocked. _"Slash! Block! Why do you fight?"_ Pearl was taken aback by the sudden question. _"Why do you waste your time on this planet?"_ "To protect it, and protect humanity." She replied with ease. " _Because you have always loved humans so much, haven't you? Just as much as Rose did?"_ "Shut up" Pearl hissed and pushed her attack in a vain attempt to silence the doppelganger _. "That's why she left. Chose a human over a Pearl. Her Pearl."_ "You don't know…!" _"Know what? That she really did not care for you so much? That you were not so special after all? Just a Pearl, one amongst so many."_ "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Every yell was marked with a strike against her foes weapon. The last hit cut the sword in half, but the severed part flickered and seemed to bend in the air, connecting itself with the handle once more. The hellish copy kicked Pearl in the chest, forcing her back to the edge of the island they were standing on. _"You are so insignificant. So weak. You tricked your friends to fuse with you, just so you could feel powerful. You looked at Steven, and what did you see? Nothing but Roses gemstone. You do everything to gain control, but what has that brought?"_ The fake Pearl stepped closer and kicked Pearl again. _"But that does not matter, does it? You are a Pearl, after all. If you are to be taken as an average, none of your pathetic kind would have succeeded anyways."_ The next kick almost pushed Pearl off the island, only by luck she managed to grab hold of the edge. Her copy stepped closer, its empty eyes showing no emotion. The sword came closer to Pearls face and slightly tapped her gemstone. Both combatants disappeared in a beam of light and were warped back to their respective teams. _"THE SHATTERED GEMS WIN THE FIRST ROUND!"_ Galenite flashed and returned back to her normal form. "Galenite?! What did you do there?" "Galenite? Who is…" The grey Gem nearly fell down and grabbed her head. "Right, that's me. Galenite. Ugh." Lapis and Peridot watched her intently. "Sorry, I did not mean to scare you. It's just that when I take in too many memories, I can lose track of myself. But I'm fine now." "Are you sure?" Lapis seemed unconvinced. "I'm fine. I just need a moment." _"THE NEXT CHAMPIONS WILL SHOW THEIR STRENGHT AND ENDURANCE."_ Lapis nodded to Peridot, who stepped forwards, and disappeared. _"STATE YOUR NAMES AND TITLES!"_ "We are Garnet." "I am Peridot." Neither bothered with coming up with titles. Garnet summoned her gauntlets, but otherwise did not deviate from her pose. _"THEN FIGHT FOR YOUR MASTERS!"_ Peridot's fingers flew and formed two small dark green shields at her arms, which remained afloat next to her head. Garnet charged forwards, and attempted to hit Peridot in the face. One of the shields, however, blocked it and seemed to absorb the force of the blow. "Hah, what are you going to do now, knucklehead?" The answer came as the other fist, and Peridot flew across the arena. "Ugh, response time needs… calibrating…"Peridot got up slowly as Garnet walked towards her. This time she managed to block several blows, and after dodging an uppercut, punched Garnet in the face. "Take that!" She punched again. And again. And the smile on Peridots face faded as she realized that Garnet had apparently not even noticed the hits. "AGHHH!" Peridot flew across the arena, this time in the opposite direction. "You know, I feel like we have done this before." Garnet remarked as she approached Peridot again. "This is unfair! She is a fusion! This is against the rules!" Garnet stopped walking as they both waited for an answer from the bodiless announcer. For a few moments everything stood still. Then a large groan rung out from one of the sides of the arena. A portion of the wall lowered, revealing darkness. Then the darkness moved. Large, scorpion shaped monsters rushed out from the opening, screeching horribly at the two combatants. The ran over Peridot, not even noticing her, and approached Garnet. The fusion shot one of her gauntlets at the horde, and several disappeared in a large cloud of greenish vapor. Garnet waited in front of the wall of smoke and suddenly, one of the monsters jumped out, earning a gauntlet strike for its eagerness. For several minutes, Garnet dedicated her attention towards lowering the population of monsters in the arena, and paid the price for forgetting her true enemy as a laser bolt shot towards her face. It hit, pushed Garnet back and when he recovered, she saw Peridot running towards her. The green shields had melded together to form a larger one it, along with Peridot, hit Garnet like a train. The force and the weight of Peridots enhancers knocked Garnet over, with Peridot landing on top of her. The green Gem pulled a knife from her gemstone and stabbed down. Garnet caught the blade, not paying heed to the fact that it started glowing red, and rose up, holding Peridot by her hands. The remaining monsters stood in a circle around them, their screeching almost sounding like cheering, their eyes being fixed on Peridot. "Put me down, you clod!" The green Gem kicked Garnet in the stomach, to no avail. The fusion raised one of her gauntlets, and slowly brought it down, touching Peridots gem. The cavern was basked in light again, the monsters disappeared and arena was empty. _"THE SECOND POINT GOES TO THE CRYSTAL GEMS!"_ Steven cheered with Amethyst as Garenet reappeared next to them. "Haha, well done!" "Garnet, you rule.". Pearl was sitting slightly further away, and was looking into the distance. "Hmh?" She seemed to notice Garnet only now. "Oh, you won. Congratulations." "Pearl, are you ok?" Pearl looked at Steven, and seemed to cheer up a little. "Yes, Steven. I'm fine." _"THE THIRD CHALLENGE SHALL TEST THE AGILITY AND SPEED OF THE CHAMPIONS!"_ The arena shifted once again, with walls rising from the ground and forming corridors and tunnels. However, the scene did not come to a rest. The maze kept shifting, corridors changed places and sudden chasms appeared in the floor. "…she has wings! How am I supposed to survive down there!" Steven turned his attention towards Amethyst and Garnet. "Just do it." Amethyst did not have time to respond as she disappeared. Steven looked up to see Lapis on the other side of the arena disappear as well. While Garnet and Pearl had barely broken a sweat during the fights (Pearl a little bit more than Garnet), then Peridot and Galenite looked like they had run a marathon. On the arena, Lapis and Amethyst had started to move, running across shifting corridors. But it seemed that the shifting was intentional, leading both of them towards the centre of the arena. And in the centre they met, reaching it exactly at the same time. Amethyst was the first to react, summoning her whip, lashing it at Lapis and wrapping it around her ankle. Lapis fell and tried to grab on to something as Amethyst started pulling her in. She summoned her wings in an effort to escape, but to no avail. In an final attempt she pushed herself up and jumped towards Amethyst, flew over her head and caused the purple Gem to fall over from the unexpected turn of events. Yet she hung on, clinging to the whip like her life depended on it. "Let go!" Lapis shouted, trying to shake Amethyst off. But she had an iron grip, and the arena was not making the flying easier. Pillars started to shoot from the ground with nets appearing between them. Lapis evaded the first few, but hit one of the pillars straight in the middle, falling down to one of the bottomless pits but managing to grab hold on the edge, with Amethyst still tangling from her. But something was off. Lapis looked down and saw that the other Gem had apparently lost consciousness, while maintaining her grip. Lapis thought for a moment, took a breath, and let go of the edge. They disappeared out of sight, only Amethysts sudden screaming alerting her awakening. And then they fell. For a long time. Every spectator her their breath, either because of tension, or (in the case of Peridot) because forgot to breathe at all. The arena came to a stop, even the dust hung in the air. Suddenly, both contestants appeared back at their teams, and the announcer spoke again. " _THE FINAL POINT GOES TO THE SHATTERED GEMS, AND THEY HAVE WON THE EVENT! ENTER THE ARENA, AND CLAIM THE PRICE OF FOR MASTERS!"_ Lapis, Peridot and Galenite were warped for one final time. The Arena was back to its original form, and as they walked towards the centre, a stairway rose from the floor, illuminated by beams of lights. The stair ended with a podium that had a floating object on top of it. It looked like it was made of glass, yet it _seemed_ to be something else completely. There were no engravings, decorations, just a smooth polished surface. A sound similar to the song of whales seemed to emit from it. It was reflective and transparent at the same time, and Lapis's hands were shaking slightly as she picked it up. The lights dimmed and flags disappeared "Let's leave." Lapis turned around and quickly walked back down. As they turned to the exit, they saw the Crystal Gems waiting for them. "We are not giving any autographs. You can send the congratulations by mail." Peridot remarked. "You are not going anywhere." Garnet said. "You are going to give us the Lens, retreat into your gems and come with us." "You can't force us! It's against the rules!" "The arena is shutting itself down, Lapis. There are no rules here anymore. Except those made by us." Galenite took the object from Lapis's hands and stepped up. "Well, before we do all that, could I say something?" As no one seemed to object, she lifted it up, as to offer it. "All I want to say is: bye" She raised her arm and her gem flashed. The flash itself was not that strong, but the light shined through the Lens. And the Lens did what it was meant to do: amplify. "Run!" Galenite dashed by the blinded Gems, followed by Lapis and Peridot. Steven, who had only now made his way down the tribune, ran after them. "Lapis! Wait" Why do you keep running so much!" "Steven, go back!" "Not before you agree to be my friend!" Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst followed Steven's voice as they ran into the caves. The whole place was a maze, but Garnet's future vision kept them on the right track. They turned to a longer tunnel, which opened up above the room with the warp pad. "Steven! No! You'll fall!" Steven heard Pearl, but was unable to stop his speed, tripped and fell down into the room below. He fell. He was caught by the white ray of the warp pad and crashed into the three figures already in the stream. The light faded. And the room was dark and empty again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hiellou.**

 **Chapter 6 is here, You never really appreciate words until you have to write themselves, dont you. In this chapter I tried to write something that resembled human emotion. Please tell me how I did. Suggest, review, criticize, do what you want. Also, should I change the name? Just wondering. Thank you for your time.**

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It was an afternoon. A goat was eating grass. A gentle breeze played with leaves. Everything was just like it had been hundreds of times before. Even the beam of light that hit the warp pad was now ordinary, a part of the routine. But this day was different, this day, and the few ones after that, would be unique, never happening again. A new story was going to unfold. Not that it mattered to the goat. It had seen stranger things.

The landing was far from elegant. The four people crashed to the pad in several different ways, as if to provide the maximum amount of humor to an unseen audience. Three of them got up, groaning. "What happened?" Galenite asked. "What hit us?" The departure from the underground arena had been hectic. There had been a chase, _again_ , and just as they were warping to safety, something nearly pushed them out. Galenite helped up the green gem next to her, and then noticed Lapis. She was standing still, frozen, staring at something. It seemed like she had even forgotten breathing. Galenite and Peridot stepped closer, saw what she was looking, and froze as well. Before them lay a small human-like boy. He had a shirt with a yellow star, jeans, shoes and curly black hair. The only indication that he was not mundane was a pink gemstone which was slightly visible from under his shirt. It was the hybrid. "Steven." Lapis's voice was as soft as a whisper. The boy groaned, as if hearing his name, causing the gems to step back. He opened his eyes. He smiled. "Lapis. I caught you." Lapis smiled as well. "Yes you did. Take it easy now." She kneeled next to him and helped him sit. "Can you please not run away again?" "I promise I won't." They both chuckled quietly. Lapis was unsure how to feel. A part of her still disliked Steven for being with the Crystal Gems, but she was surprised, and happy, that Steven still wanted to be her friend. Even after Lapis ran away and stole the ocean and nearly killed Steven when she left Earth. Even after she returned with Jasper and Peridot. It was reassuring somehow, to know that someone on this alien planet liked her.

They had started walking towards the Sky Spire. Steven and Lapis were walking at the front, with Steven holding Lapis's hand, as if afraid to lose his friend again. Peridot was lagging behind slightly, and was busy muttering to herself, something about _being found_ and _Clods._ She seemed less than enthusiastic about Steven, even slightly afraid. _Not that I can blame her,_ Galenite thought. The boy was a mystery to be sure. Half human, half gem. Fully impossible. And the fact that his gem, the fact that he himself was once Rose Quartz, the most notorious person in the recent (only a few millennia) gem history, made him just scarier. He seemed so innocent, so friendly, so happy it was almost impossible to believe that the previous owner of the gemstone had caused the deaths of millions. Of course, apparently Rose had been a nice person before the rebellion, but looks can be deceiving. That was scary; not knowing how powerful the boy was, not knowing if the current him was just a mask. "So, you guys have been living in the Spire this whole time?" "Yes." The group had been mostly silent, only exception had occurred when Steven had shown some familiarity with one of the goats that lived here. Clearly he knew this place. "And the Gems never came to look here?" "No, and why would they? It's not like there is anything of importance here." Lapis kept answering. "And _I_ have been misleading your warp detector." Peridot put in, making sure everyone understood her vital part of the whole thing. "Ohh, that's why Garnet had been looking in the Kindergarten so much. You even tricked Pearl." Peridots mood seemed to improve a little, knowing that she had bested the Crystal Gems. "So, Steven…" Lapis asked, "…how do you know this place so well? Have you been here many times before?" They entered the staircase that lead to the top of the Spire. "Only twice. The first time me, Pearl and Amethyst came here to find the Heaven Beetle and fought a giant bird. The second time we were looking for one of Peridots robo-noids, before she arrived." "Wait! You knew I was coming?!" "No, we didn't. I just saw one of them warping. We followed another one to them and saw them fix the pad that lead to Homeworld, though. And we saw you come here." "You were there!?" Peridot nearly shouted. The knowledge that her possible death had been so close was terrifying . "Yeah. And I was the one that cracked the robonoid you destroyed. I'm sorry." Peridot was dumbstruck. He apologized for breaking something so insignificant, something that didn't matter at all. And he seemed genuinely sorry. Everyone went silent for a moment. "What did you say about the Heaven Beetle before, Steven?" Lapis tried to break the awkward silence. "Oh, we were on a mission. The Heaven Beetle was some gem creature that lived here in a little house. But we had to fight a giant bird, and Pearl and Amethyst fused into Opal." "You mean the four armed one that attacked my ship?" Peridot asked, and activated her hand screen. "Yeah, she is awesome, isn't she? But Pearl and Amethyst fuse so rarely, because they say they can't find the harmony. They keep disagreeing and having arguments." "Disliking within the Crystal Gems, very interesting." The green gem typed away, as well as recording everything Steven said. Lapis took notice of this, and didn't seem very happy to Galenite. "Peridot…" she asked, "…where is the Lens?" The Lens! Galenite had completely forgotten about it. And from the looks of it, so had Peridot. She stopped, looked around, patted her sides as if checking her pockets, and looked up. "The Lens!" she started running back, but froze. Galenite remembered she had been looking back at the warp pad most of the time they were walking towards the Spire, as if expecting someone to arrive. And it wasn't hard to guess who that someone would be. Lapis saw her dilemma, and said: "Peridot, if you are afraid, we can send Steven along with you. What do you say?" "I am fine, thank you very much." Yet she did not go, just stood there. Lapis shrugged, "Suit yourself." She started walking along the path again. "If you see anyone, yell. " Steven and Galenite followed, leaving the green gem alone. She cursed, and started running down.

"That was a bit mean, Lapis." Lapis sighted at Stevens accusation. "She was trying to get information from you. You shouldn't tell her so much. Technically, we are still enemies." She said with a faint smile. They passed a large hole in the wall, which looked very recent. "Did you do this?" Steven asked. "That was my fault." Galenite spoke. For the first time since Steven woke up, she noted. "I pushed a giant boulder down from the top." She couldn't help to feel slightly embarrassed at the whole incident. "It sounded like a good idea at the time. It went so well in the TV, so I tried to test it out. As a trap of sorts." She still remembered how long it had taken for her to find a suitable rock and push it up to the top. And when it just crashed through the wall, the whole thing felt disappointing. "You have a TV?" "Yeah. And what you call Internet as well. Peridot set the whole thing up." Galenite felt a little relieved that the conversation had moved on. They kept walking for a few minutes, and finally reached the top. They entered the "home" of the gems. Three hammocks attached to poles around the large room, each had a small pile of the belongings of their owners around them. A table and some rough chairs. The TV with something that faintly resembled a couch and a smaller table, with a small clay pot with blue flowers in them. A haphazard pile of electronics and screens that were of both gem and human origin, which seemed to grow from one of the far walls. A large rock that had tool marks on it and faintly resembled something that would be a statue in the future. They heard loud panting and turned around to see Peridot run into the room, holding the Lens in her hand. She headed to the machines, opened her screen, touched a button, and inserted the artifact into a compartment that had opened up. "That was quick." Peridot turned around. "I jumped out from one of the windows and flew down." "Well, good you hurried. Now we can decide what we are going to do." Lapis took a seat on the couch while Galenite pulled a chair closer. Peridot seemed content to stand next to her electronic nest. Steven distanced himself slightly and explored the building. There was a moment of silence as none of the three gems knew what they should do. "We can't just send him back, he knows where we are, he will just tell the Clods." Peridot started. "What if we keep him here until we evacuate to another place?" Peridot only shook her head at Galenites suggestion. "It would take too many warp jumps. And I'd have to disassemble the scrambler. They would just find us." "And if we leave everything behind?" "We cant do that! I have made so much progress!..." "What are you even doing?". Peridot fell silent. "That's not important." She finally said. "So, we are trapped." Lapis prevented Galenite from inquiring any further. Suddenly she seemed to have an idea: "Galenite! Cant you wipe him memory?" "No. I can only bring memories up, I cant erase them."

Steven listened to the conversation. He could sense the distress of the three gems, they seemed to be afraid and tired. And trying to convince them that the Gems would be OK with the whole thing didn't sound like a good idea. He felt sorry for them, and as much as he wanted to believe otherwise, it didn't seem likely that Garnet or Pearl would ever let him see Lapis again if she was caught. "…its not like we can keep him here." The sentence uttered by Lapis gave him an idea. "Maybe you can!" The three turned to look him. "You could keep me as a hostage for some time, and then exchange me for something else." "But you would still have to go back, and tell them…" Steven cut Peridot off "I wont." Peridot seemed taken aback, Lapis raised her eyebrows. "Why wouldn't you? We are the enemy!" "But we can be friends! Like… secret friends!" Small stars seemed to appear in Stevens eyes. "Come on, what do you think?" "Do you have that kind of authority over them? To withhold such information?" Galenite seemed unsure. "Steven can tell them you erased the memory!" Hope sounded in Lapis's voice as she stood up. "We went over this, I cant…" "But they don't know that!" "And why would you do something like that for us?" Peridot asked Steven. "Because I want to get to know you guys." Steven looked at them. "I want to do this for you."

"Lapis, you can't be serious! We can't trust him! He and his friends tried to kill you! The tried to kill _me_!" "And you didn't do anything to provoke them?" Galenite asked sarcastically. "It was self-defense!" "And the colony ship?", she continued. "Preemptive self-defense!" Peridot replied. "Peridot, we don't have another chance."Lapis cut in. "We can either let him stay here for a few days and make sure that he is happy and thinks we are his friends, or we can just surrender to the Crystal Gems. You were the one who said we can't leave." "But this isn't the alternative I had in mind!" "Then what do you suggest!" Lapis raised her voice, wanting to end the argument, but Peridot wasn't done. "We could leave." She said in a quiet tone. Lapis was happy that Steven had left and let them discuss the matter in private. She was sure this would have made him upset. "Leave how?" Her tone was as quiet as Peridots. A quick glance towards Galenite showed that she seemed interested. "With the Lens. We would just need to acquire some parts from the colony ship. It would take me a day to set up the Homeworld pad. We would need to redirect one of the working pads beam and set it through the Lens." "And where would we go?" Lapis turned around. "Galenite and I are traitors. Homeworld has changed too much. It wouldn't be our home anymore. And how were you going to keep your own gem from being shattered for incompetence?" "By taking the hybrid with us. If we returned with the starter of the Rebellion and such a experiment between organic life and gems, all would be forgiven…" Galenite tried to silently make Peridot stop talking by waving her arms around, but it was too late. Lapis turned around. "Is that the way you see him?" her voice was as quiet as before, but there was hate in it. A lot of hate. "Just as some reincarnation of Rose? As some sick experiment to research in your labs?" Her wing erupted from her back, her face was cold, murderous. Peridot stumbled back, trying to back away. "He is so much more. He tried to help us! He offered us our trust. HE WANTED TO BE OUR FRIEND!" Lapis's voice seemed to twist. Galenite raised her hands and stepped in between them, stopping Lapis while wondering how bad of an idea this had been. "How long have you been planning this, Peridot! The Lens, all those part… you have been using us!" she wasn't shouting anymore, but Galenite did not know if this was much of an improvement. "Just as you wanted to use Steven! We mean nothing to you…!" "No!" Galenite turned around to see Peridot snap. She rose up, as furious as Lapis. "I have been trying to save us!" She stepped closer, making Galenite felt like she was invisible. Lapis and Peridot watched each other, their looks like lasers. Maybe if she stood still, they wouldn't notice her, Galenite hoped. "You have no idea what our labs have produced! The gem mutant pictures I showed you on the ship are only the beginning! While you have been happily skipping around, I have tried to make sure that we would have a way to escape when the Cluster awoke!"

There was silence. Lapis thought for a moment. "What is the Cluster?" Peridot seemed to have calmed down as well, and assumed her normal know-it-all role. "It's a giant forced fusion at the centre of the Earth. And it will hatch. Not today, not tomorrow, maybe not even this year. But it will. I was trying to use the time to make an escape route for us. To take us somewhere safe." "And why didn't you tell us?" "I didn't want to worry you and Galenite. I would have told you when the signs would have started to appear. I'm sorry." "No, I'm sorry. I overreacted." Lapis looked miserable. As did Peridot. But they had talked it out. "So," Galenite started, "what are we going to tell Steven?"

"Steven…"Peridot raised her hand as she started talking. "after discussing your plan, we have decided…" she made a pause just for tension. "…to go ahead with it." "Yeah!" Steven jumped into the air and hugged Peridot. "What are you doing? Let go! Lapis, help me!" "He is just happy, Peridot. Enjoy the moment." Steven let go and ran to Lapis, who returned the hug. Galenite chuckled at Peridot, who looked like a cat someone had sneezed on. "How are we going to contact the Gems?" She asked. "With this!" Steven let go of Lapis and pulled his phone out from him pocket and held it high in the air. "What is it?" Peridot seemed intrigued by the small black, rectangular object. "Its my phone. I can call the Gems with it." "So, it's a communication device?" "Yeah, but it can do a lot more. I'll show you later. But right now, here's what we are going to do right now…"

Greg was sitting on the couch and stared at his phone. The Gems had told him what had happened, and now he was sitting there. The Gems themselves were off somewhere, but left him the Warp Whistle in case Steven contacted him.

The phone rung.

Greg rushed at it in such a hurry that it was knocked off the table. He breathed in to calm himself, picked it up, and looked at the screen. It was Steven.

"Steven, is it you? Are you all right? Where are you?" _"Hi dad, its me. Don't worry, I'm fine."_ "The Gems told me what happened, its not all right!" _"Dad, trust me on this. Nothing bad will happen. Are the Gems nearby?"_ "I'll… get them." Still puzzled by what Steven had said, he fumbled for the Warp Whistle, found it and blew into it. The warp pad activated, and soon three familiar figures came through. "Greg, if this is about you seeing someone "suspicious" again…" He cut Pearl off by pointing to the phone. "It's Steven!" Garnet took several steps forwards, grabbed the phone, and put it on speaker. "Steven!" _"Hi Garnet!"_ There was some noises as the phone at the other end, and something which seemed like speaking _"Hello, Clods!"_ "Peridot!" Garnet had assumed the role of the "negotiator" while Amethyst, Pearl and Greg only listened. _"As you have probably noticed, then we have the Steven, and are holding him hostage. Now you will do as we say, and maybe you will see him again."_ "You wouldn't dare to do anything to him." _"We will see about that!"_ , it wasn't a bad threat, but Peridots voice seemed unsure. She seemed to take a moment to gather her thoughts, and continued. _"Anyway, from this moment on, you are forbidden from searching for us, forbidden from attacking us in case we accidentally meet and are ordered to give us the items specified in the following list."_ There was a sound similar to someone tapping a pen on a phone screen, followed by whispering. _"Steven, the screen is not working…what!...I am pressing the letters, nothing is happening…what do you mean the screen is not compatible with my fingers?...who designed this thing?..."_ Garnet exchanged a look with Pearl, but had no time to say anything as Peridot seemed to have realized that everything she said was audible. _"We will be sending the list later. You will drop the items off at the mentioned spot, and leave. If you do as we say, you will see Steven again in two…"_ she was broken off by someone, and whispering could be heard from the other side again. _"…fine, three days. See you never, Clods!"_ The call cut off, leaving the house in silence. "Greg," Garnet said, "we will begin the preparations. If you want, you can stay in the house until the whole thing is settled." Greg nodded, and the Gems entered the Temple, leaving him alone. His phone beeped. It was a message from Steven. _"Don't worry. I have everything under control._ _"_.

Galenite warped back to the Spire, holding some paper bags in her hand. She made her way to the small fire that was lit at the base of the tower. "Why did it take you so long? I thought Steven said it was fast food." Galenite laughed at Lapis's joke, handing out the bags to everyone except Peridot, who just kept typing away at the screen. It was late evening and Galenite had been sent to get some food.

They laughed at stories told by Steven and Lapis. Steven sung to them, Lapis danced, Peridot shot plasma balls in the air which then exploded into smaller balls.

"Well, it seems that the whole hostage thing is going much better than you though, isn't it?" Lapis asked Galenite. "Right. Just tell me who is the hostage, Lapis, him or us."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, my dear readers. I thank you for being so patient, and staying with me for so long. You might be wondering why I am saying this. Well, the answer is very simple: I recently decided to do something I will regret for quite some time. I re-read this bloody thing. It was quite awful.**

 **Anyway, the other matter of the day: what should I change about this fanfic? The name is petty boring, I only chose it because it fits with the cover. The description is not that good as well. But what about the length: are the chapters long enough? are they too short? What should I change?**

 **Also, regarding this chapter, I know the Galenite thing is kind of out of place, but I just needed to add her in. There was also going to be a zoo section, but it was just too bad.**

 **Read, rewiev, suggest, knock yourself out.**

* * *

The Shattered Gems

Chapter 7

A nice day

Steven woke. He opened his eyes and looked at a patch of blue sky visible through a hole in the ceiling. This place was definitely not his home. Sitting upright, he rubbed his eyes and looked around sleepily. Right, he was kidnapped. By the arch nemesis of the Crystal Gems, Lapis Lazuli and her two companions. The fact that the whole thing was an accident and a lie lessened the dramatic effect somewhat, but it sounded cool nonetheless. Steven wasn't exactly sure how kidnapping worked in real life, but he was sure it didn't include becoming secret friends with the captors. And having late night campfires with them.

Something in the corner of his sight moved. It took Steven a moment to see Peridot in her nest of electronics, her green color working as a natural camouflage. She had apparently been watching him, but had quickly turned to one of her screens.

"Good morning, Peridot!" The green gem seemed to ignore him, which only made Steven more sure they should talk. He made his way to the haphazard pile.

"Whatcha doing?" Peridot sighted. She had silently hoped that the strange hybrid would "sleep" (or whatever the long period of unconsciousness that humans seemed to like was called) until Lapis would return. She didn't exactly know how to treat him. _Him_. A gem with a _gender_. A gem with an _organic body_. Peridot shuddered. But now she had to deal with it. She took a deep breath. "I am drawing designs for a device that would help me use the Lens to amplify and direct signals in a controllable way. The Lens itself is too unpredictable and can cause a too large reaction. But by using a photon filter, I can monitor the energy levels accurately and can automatically modify the output." Steven looked at her for a moment, trying to process the information. "Is Lens the thingy from the arena?" "Yes." "And what's a photon filter?" "Photon filters are used to reduce the amount of photons passing through them." "And what´s a photon?" "You didn't understand anything I said, didn't you?" "Kind of… yeah." "Good. Because you weren't meant to." The conversation lapsed into silence, but Peridot felt kind of bad. Neither Lapis and Galenite had shown any interest in her doings, and she had never had the opportunity to show off her technical superiority. "Would you like to see how it will look like?" "Ok." Using her floating fingers she turned on the hologram projector. It came to life, humming and flashing small lights, but produced only a garbled image of a large irregular round object. "Stupid broken…" she looked at the glitchy image. "Hmm. Strange." It reminded her something. And there was almost some form of order in the static. "Wait! I've got this!" Steven ran to the projector, climbing on her work station to reach it. Peridot turned to look, curious at what the human would do. He closed his eyes, put his hands on the machine and started to hum quietly. "Steven? What are you…" "Hayah!" Steven suddenly shouted and hit the projector with one of his hands. The previous image disappeared and was replaced by a schematic of a triangular device with the Lens in the middle of it. The whole thing was animated, and took itself apart, displaying each component separately. Peridot stared at Steven. "How did you do that?" "I hit it." "I saw that. I mean did you use your powers, like releasing an electromagnetic impulse or something?" "Nope. I just hit it. We humans do it all the time." Peridot would have raised her eyebrows, had she had any. "Human idea of fixing is slamming their hands on broken things? How did you ever manage to achieve the level technology you have?" "No, no. We just do it when a computer or a TV or a copy machine starts acting strange. We like, scare them back to work." "Your machines are _sentient_!?" Peridot seemed to be in a shock. "No they are not!" Steven tried to calm Peridot down. "At least I hope they are not." He added. He shouldn't have said anything. Sometimes he forgot how alien all gems were with Earth. "Everything is fine, Peridot. Hitting things sometimes makes them work. And computers aren't planning to take over Earth by launching nuclear rockets and sending naked men back to the past to kill the leaders of the resistance of the future." "That was oddly specific." Peridot seemed to regain her composure, assured that apocalypse was a safe impossibility. "It was the plot of a movie I once saw." "Very well. It does sound like something only human could think off." Peridot took her seat again and continued to write equations on one of the screen, but listening to Steven much more intently. Humans seemed to be much more intriguing than she had previously thought. Even if they all seemed to constantly be on the verge of a mental collapse. "Maybe Lapis will watch it with you." The blue gem had explained to them how important it was that they keep Steven happy, so that he would hold on to their agreement and not tell the Crystal Clods where they were living. "Where is Lapis anyway?" Steven seemed to notice only now that she was not there. "She went to prepare for today's activities. Talked something about a beach and some amusing park. Galenite will not be joining us, she has more important things to do." _Lucky her._ Peridot thought.

 _Lucky her._ Galenite thought as she sat in a bush and looked at the warp pad. _Peridot gets to spend a lovely day and I am the one who does all the hard work. There is a conspiracy against me._ It was here that the Crystal Gems were to bring the stuff they demanded. And to make sure that no-one would be making a nasty surprise for her, Galenite had been sitting there for four hours. Staring at a warp pad. Which did nothing. The animals had seemed to accept her as one of their own, though. Several small brown creatures with big fluffy tails had climbed over her to reach the tree tops, and a bird sat on her head for a while, singing some song. She shifted slightly as she read a list on a thin sheet made of her nano-metal.

 _The To-Do List_ _1._ _Do the list. Duh. 2. Collect the demands. Don't get caught. Make sure everything is there. 3. Do the shopping. Buy food for three days. Get the equipment to prepare said food. Buy AA batteries 4. Finish the "preparation" for the Spire. 5. Find out what Lapis meant with "preparations". 6. Prove the conspiracy. The truth is out there! 7. Stop making ideas up. Remain sane. On an alien planet inhabited by creatures who spend half of their lives hallucinating and the other half thinking they are hallucinating._

The sound of the warp pad activating nearly scared her, making the list fade away into a lump of reflective metal. She cursed, and then remained completely still as a figure emerged from the beam of light. Garnet. The Lovers. The fear of the battlefield. The vengeance of Rose Quartz. Galenite remembered how feared the fusion had been back in the day. She was nigh unbeatable, despite being made just from a Ruby and a Sapphire. Galenite tried to imagine what a stable fusion between an Amethyst and a Smoky Quartz would be. Very big, probably.

The fusion walked a few meters forward, and dropped two large objects she was carrying, which both looked like food objects for some bizarre reason. She looked around slowly, scanning the area, and Galenite could swear she saw her reflection from Garnets sunglasses. Finally, the fusion backed back to the pad and disappeared.

Galenite waited another half an hour before emerging from her hiding spot. But even then she felt tense, like something would go terribly wrong. _Everything is fine._ She tried to calm herself and opened one of the bags, shaped like a burger. _Its not like they can know the future…_ The warp pad activated. Galenite turned around just in time to see a purple whip fly out from the still active beam and wrap itself around her ankle. As she fell, she hit her head against a rock, the blow disharmonizing her body and making her dizzy. A boot was placed of her chest and the sun became blocked by a square head. _Right. Sapphires can._

The beach was lovely. Blue waves rolled to the beach under an even bluer sky. The sands happened to be the singing type, and hummed as people walked on it. Everything was as perfect for a beach day as it can get on Earth. Peridot felt an urge to hate it. It was just so natural to hate this blue-green planet. She didn't understand it. It was too unpredictable, too active, and too _alive._ Homeworld was a geologically dead world; there were no earthquakes, storms, volcanoes, nothing. Even the seas were silent and opaque, reflecting the starry void of space. That was something she missed: seeing the stars all the time, seeing the freedom of endless expansion. The blue ceiling here constricted her, reminded her of how she was a prisoner. But hopefully that would end soon. She placed a seashell on top of the last tower of the "sand castle" she had been building. It was Steven who had shown her the slightly addictive action of using wet sand to mold walls and other structures. It was calming, and helped to take her mind off things. And she seemed to be better at it than anyone else in the beach. Their stubby touch stumps were too clumsy to match her skill. Building sand castles was only one strange thing humans did. They would also lay under the sun, unmoving, until their skin changed colors. Unless their skin color was already brown. But they didn't seem to care much, and did just like the others.

"Peridot! We are going to jump from the tower! You want to come?" "No. I told you before, Steven, I am not going to swim." Steven had spent most of the time swimming with Lapis. Although swimming with Lapis was different from regular swimming. Normally you wouldn't be able to surf on waves without a surfboard and the waves wouldn't throw you in air only to catch you again in the form of large hands. Lapis had even put up a little show for Steven and other children, flying through water spirals and doing other daredevil stunts. And now it seemed that their latest amusement was jumping off from a large concrete tower slightly off the beach. "Come on Steven. Some people just are afraid of water. We cant help them." "I am not afraid of water, Lapis. I just don't want do go near it." "And how is that different from being afraid?" "Its my chose." "Please Peridot. It will be fun!" Steven added "How is falling into water fun?" Lapis only sighted. "She is hopeless. We will leave you here to pity yourself here, then. Enjoy your precious solitude. Coward." "I am not a coward, Lapis" Peridot rose up, tired from the conversation. "Then prove it. By jumping from the tower." "Fine." the green gem finally gave in. "I will do it. Just stop talking." "Great! Race you to the top!" Lapis and Steven ran off, leaving Peridot to wonder her mistakes. Coming here was one of them.

Garnet seemed mildly surprised at Galenites laughing. "What's so funny?" "Nothing.", but she continued to chuckle. "What is your plan now? Capture me? Use me for exchange? Torture me even?" "You don't seem very worried about that." "My life so far hasn't really been nice to me. By now I'm just surprised I haven't died yet." "And what makes you so certain you are going to live after this?" The Pearl asked. "Because you won't dare to kill me." "I beg your pardon?" Galenite just started laughing again. "Oh, Sapphire ,Sapphire know it all.." she chanted. "Tell me, is there any future in which we won't return Steven to you? Any future in which we will even touch a hair on his head?" Garnet didn't say anything, prompting Galenite to continue. The whole situation was actually rather grim, but maybe she could pull this through. Maybe. "So, imagine this. Steven returns home after spending a nice weekend, only to find you three are holding me prisoner. Even better, torturing me. Who are the monsters then?" "What is it with you and torturing?" "Nothing." Maybe she said that too quickly. "Capturing me won't make a difference. You will get him back no matter what. So why bother with me?" Garnet didn't move. "Can you decide quickly, please? This really uncomfortable." "Amethyst. Untie her. We are leaving." "What? You cant be serious." The Pearl started to protest, but the fusion ignored her and walked back to the pad. Soon enough Galenite was left alone with the bags.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Steven jumped from the tower, landing in a cannonball. He reemerged from the water and waved to Peridot and Lapis. "Well, Peridot. Ready to go?" Lapis asked the green gem. "No…." "So you are afraid?" "Absolutely not. I was merely…. planning to….. jump from the very top." They were of the highest platform, but the tower continued for a few good meters. Lapis shrugged. "Do your best." "And I will." Peridot activated her finger propellers and flew. It was high. Very high. Lapis had jumped as well, and Peridot could see her next to Steven. Interestingly, Lapis's hair gad seemed to be dry, even after spending all that time in the sea. Peridot took a deep breath. She was going to jump. She was going to show that she wasn't scared. She had always kept a strong image of herself, the gem who was capable of anything, better than anyone else. She closed her eyes. She pushed herself off the tower. She fell.

Steven watched Peridot jump. The green gem had jumped from the very top, causing everyone in the beach to turn their eyes towards her. She fell gracefully, arms stretched put. Time seemed to slow as she sailed through the air. Even Lapis seemed to be impressed. It was the perfect jump. Until two-thirds of the way down. That's when she apparently opened her eyes.

Peridot screamed. The water was approaching fast, very fast. In a vain attempt she tried to flap her hands and turned around in the air. In the last moment it occurred to her to use her fingers to slow the fall, but it was too late.

She hit the water.

Steven closed his eyes as the wave of water came towards him. Peridot had landed with a big splash, that was for sure. He dived, swimming to the bottom.

Peridot lay on her back, covering her face with her hand. Her back hurt. A lot. Groaning, she got up, her movements slowed by water. Unlike humans, she didn't need to breathe, just another sign of gem superiority. Steven appeared nearby, and Peridot waved to him. Steven waved back, and swam upwards again. The water was surprisingly clear, even with the sand that Peridot had shaken up. Some fish passed by, green seaweed seemed to move in an unseen breeze. It was very…peaceful. The lack of noise and lessened gravity made it feel like space a bit. She took base of the tower as a bearing and started walking along the bottom.

Peridot emerged from the waves, slightly remicent of a Japanese Godzilla movie. That wasn't a very good comparison in Stevens opinion, but there really wasn't a better way to describe a green being walking out from the ocean. Plus, she could fire lasers, so there was that. Some cleared seaweed from her hair as she got to the concrete walkway near the ladder.

"There, I've done my swimming. Can I go back to the beach now?"

"Peridot, that wasn't swimming. What you did is called sinking." Lapis greeted her.

"Come on, Lapis, she was awesome." "Thank you, Steven. And how would you expect me to swim with my enhancers? They are heavy, and I am not going to remove them."

"Wait!" Steven suddenly said, "You can take them off? Your hands and feet?"

"Yes, Steven. That's the point of enhancers. I can put them on and take them off as I want."

"Can you do it now?"

"No, I don't want to."

"But can you please do it?"

"No! There is no reason for me to do it." Peridot was starting to grow annoyed from the whole thing. "Why are you so intent on it anyway?"

"Because I want to see what you look like without them." Steven persisted. "Pleaaaase do it."

"No!"

"Pleaaase!" Steven did a grimace that was apparently supposed to look cute. Peridot couldn't care less.

"Lapis, tell him to…" Peridot turned around to see Lapis coping Steven. "…oh, come on. Not you too?!"

The two continued to stare at her.

"Fine, I'll do it. But only for a few minutes. And you have to promise that you wouldn't say anything." Peridot didn't have the nicest memories of how others on Homeworld had treated her without her enhancers.

"Turn your back.", she ordered.

Steven and Lapis turned away. There was a brief green flash, and the sound of heavy objects dropping to the ground. They turned back to Peridot.

They froze.

Peridot was short. Even with her hair, she was about as tall as Steven, and now, with it losing its integrity, she seemed even shorter. Her hands and feet looked ridiculously small compared to her head.

Steven and Lapis stared at Peridot. They were going to say something, she could sense it. She clenched her fists, anticipating the words. She hated being without her enhancers, she felt weaker, less control of the situation, she felt _smaller_ , in more ways than one. Steven opened his mouth.

 _Don't say anything, don't say anything…._

"You are soooo cute!" He exalted, nearly jumping as he circled Peridot.

"I am not cute."

"You are so tiny! And so cute!"

"I am not cute! Lapis, tell him!", Peridot turned to Lapis for assistance. The blue gem only shrugged.

"You are kind of adorable without the enhancers."

"That's it, I'm putting them back on."

"Please don't! You look cool!"

"Stop saying these things! I do not look "cute" or "adorable" or coAAAAGH" A large wave suddenly swept over the exposed walkway, washing Peridot, Steven and the enhancers into the water.

"Peridot! Steven!" Lapis used her powers to bring the two back to the surface.

"My enhancers! NOOOOOOO!"

Luckily the pieces were carried back to the beach, but that was a small comfort for Perido .

Steven picked one of the arms up and looked inside it. "I think there is a jellyfish in here."

"Don't you touch it!" Peridot grabbed the object from Stevens hands. She groaned as she examined it and the other limbs. "Aggh. They are filled with impurities. "

"Do you need any help cleaning them?" Lapis asked, looking around the water. "We are also still missing some fingers!"

Peridot only sighted as she tried to shake the jellyfish out. "I need the equipment back in the Spire. We need to go back."

"No. We promised Steven we would take him to the amusement park. We are not going home."

" _You_ promised to take Steven to the amusing park. You just dragged me along." Lapis stepped closer and lowered her voice.

"Do I have to remind you how important it is we leave a good impression to Steven? If we mess this up, we might as well just give ourselves in. And if this means you have to go around without your enhancers for a day, you are not just going to do it, but you are going to smile the whole time. " She loomed over Peridot and leaned in a little closer. "Understood?" Peridot only nodded. "Good. Now help me find your fingers."

They stored the limbs at one of the many lockers near the changing cabins, and started walking along the roads of the town. It was somewhat like Beach City, but much bigger, with more cars, visitors, buildings and people. And a permanent amusement park, which seemed to be a popular place to visit. The sounds of children screaming on the rollercoaster could be heard from miles away, and reminded Lapis of the time she and Galenite had visited a place like that. The queue of people was long, but moved quickly, and soon enough they reached the gate, with an old lady selling the tickets.

"Three tickets, please." Lapis said while rummaging through the blue linen bag she was carrying. They needed something to carry the beach towels and other things, and storing them in Lapis's gem would have raised some questions. Plus, she hated the need to shape-shift her arms just to reach it.

"Children go half the cost today, dear." The lady pointed to a leaf of paper nailed to a wall. "And you do have very nice children indeed, if I might add." She ruffled Peridot's hair.

"I am not a child!" Peridot protested, giving the lady a look that could kill.

"Oh course you are not, dear." She accepted Lapis's money and returned the change. "You are very lucky indeed."

"Yes…. that I am." Lapis's wasn't exactly sure what to think of it. "Thank you." She followed Peridot and Steven, who had already moved to a nearby map.

"Where should we go first?"

"The most optimal route would be this." Peridot lined a circular path through the park.

"We are not going to every attraction. Some of them are for really small kids."

"Then what do you propose?"

Steven looked around for a moment. "There!" He ran off towards a small stand. "Come on!"

"What is that?" Peridot looked at the floating thing Steven was offering her. It seemed to be made from some green rubbery substance, filled with a gas lighter than air.

"It's a balloon." Steven replied, holding a similar one that was colored yellow.

"And what is the point of them?"

"To make you happy. Look, it is smiling." The balloon had the smile of a psychotic murderer from a movie Lapis had made Peridot and Galenite watch.

"It's nice. Thank you."

"Let's go to the magic show now."

The magic show was both a disappointment and a surprise. There was no actual magic involved, only hand tricks. But the black dressed human was very good at them, conjuring cards, pigeons and colorful ropes. They next went to the carrousel, a rather pointless attraction in Peridots opinion, as it just span around. They jumped in a bouncy house, shot from an air gun (Peridot was the most accurate, winning the largest fluffy animal available, something she was very proud for) and Steven even got them to have their faces painted in a resemblance of some striped Earth animal. It was somewhat strange how humans didn't really seem to notice how she and Lapis had completely different skin colors, and it seemed the whole topic as a taboo to talk about.

They had decided to take a small brake, and were sitting on a bench. Lapis had bought ice cream for herself and Steven. Peridot was openly against eating anything, and was taking comfort in the fact that now, without her enhancers, she could use Stevens phone.

"Steven, is something bothering you?" Lapis noticed how Steven had grown silent and just stared at the crowd.

"I feel a bit bad about lying to the Crystal Gems."

"You shouldn't. If you are trying to protect someone, then sometimes not telling the truth is the only way. And besides, you know we are not going to do anything bad to you. They will be fine."

"Lapis, why do you dislike them so much?"

Lapis didn't answer. "Sometimes not telling the truth is the only way."

They ate their ice creams in silence.

"So, we only have a couple of hours left." Lapis pulled out a smaller version of the map of the park. "You have been to most attractions. Where do you want to go now?"

"Here." Steven pointed at something that resembled a large twisting railway.

"All right. Peridot, put the phone down, we are going."

The roller coaster was big, even bigger compared to how short Peridot was now. Screams of other people riding it rung across the entire park. Peridot couldn't say how she had not seen it before, as it just dominated everything. Then again, she had spent a lot of time driving the bumper cars, so much that Lapis had needed to carry her out of there. There was so much here to get your attention, and time seemed to fly so fast. She hadn't even noticed how long exactly they had spent here. Just like she hadn't noticed the coaster.

"Come on, Peridot! Lets go!"

The line was very short, and it seemed that they would be able to take the next ride. Peridot looked at Lapis.

"You are not coming?" Lapis shook her head.

"No. I ate too much. Bad for digestion."

"But you hardly ate any…." Peridot was dragged away by Steven, leaving Lapis alone, holding two balloons.

The cart moved slowly up the track.

"This isn't so bad at all. I don't really see why all those people were screaming so much. If this is really so scary theAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH" The cart launched down like a rocket, gathering speed in a way that seemed to ignore the laws of physics. Peridot could only scream at the top of her shape-shifted lungs as they raced up, down and through sharp turns that made her insides jump. With horror she watched the road ahead. They were approaching a loop. This was it. She was going to die here. On this planet, screaming and afraid.

"Hey Peridot!" Peridot stopped her screaming for long enough to look at Steven who, for void knows why, seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Hold your hands in the air!" He rose his hands, and went "WOOOOOOOOO"

"NOOOOOOO!" They went through the loop, and entered a dark tunnel. The ride ended where it begun, and all the people besides Steven and Peridot got out.

"That was cool, wasn't it? Peridot?"

Peridot was completely frozen, she held on to the safety bar and had a thousand year stare.

"Peridot? Are you ok?"

She nodded, and slowly followed Steven back to Lapis.

"What happened to her?" Lapis asked.

"I think she got a shock. But I think I know how to get her out of it."

"DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE!"

Steven had been right. The arcade had had a therapy-like effect on her, and if happiness could be measured in the amount of virtual objects blown up per minute, then Peridot was very happy. Every kid had gathered around the green newcomer, who had proven a threat for all the records of the arcade, but now they were slowly inching away from her.

"NOOOOOO! Stupid shield generators." She turned around "Nobody touch this machine while I am away!" All the kids nodded and made way for her as she marched out to Lapis. The blue gem was sitting, and seemed to be lost in thought. Frankly she had been somewhat like that whole day, ever since they got to the park. Not that Peridot cared.

"Lapis!" The blue gem woke, and turned her attention to Peridot. "I require more quarters."

"More? How much have you spent there?"

"Approximately sixty human dollars. Now give me the money."

Lapis looked at the sun, which had started to slowly turn red and fall to the horizon.

"I think it's actually about time we went back home. It's getting dark soon."

"What!? Home!?But…"

"Started liking this?" Peridot wasn't exactly sure why she had started to protest. Of course she didn't like this place at all, it was horrible and crowded. But putting it to words was difficult, so she just shrugged, trying to look as uncaring as she could. Lapis only smiled. "Well, go and get Steven. I'll be waiting here."

Peridot re-entered the arcade, searching for Steven. She nodded to the children still waiting at the game she had just played, signaling them that they were free to use it.

"Peridot!"

Steven appeared behind her, carrying a large pile of small paper pieces. "Look how many tickets you have won."

Peridot had noticed the paper strips, but hadn't really paid them any mind. They came out of the machines as she demolished every high score on her conquest, but there were so many bizarre things here.

"Good. What are they?"

"Tickets. You can exchange them for prizes over there." He pointed to a large booth at the far end of the room.

"Khmkhmkhm" Peridot cleared her throat to get the attention of the man who was sitting there.

"Yes, hello there. I would like to exchange these" she pointed to the pile held by Steven, "tickets for prizes, if you will."

The man pointed to the shelves, where each item had a price tag next to them.

"Steven, how many tickets have I got?"

"A lot. You could get everyone here stuffed animals."

"Why should I do that?"

Steven shrugged. "Just to be nice. People appreciate that."

"I don't have to be nice. I could get myself a remote-controlled miniature aircraft, a bouncy stick, a imitation of a laser gun…"

"But do you need them?" Peridot was taken aback. These were her tickets. Of course she didn't need them, but she could have them. She looked at Steven again, who was trying to do the "puppy face" again. And quite well. Steven was trying so hard to be their friend, and for some reason Peridot knew she would feel bad if the disappointed him. She looked at the children. She sighted.

"Fine." He turned back to the man. "Give me all the stuffed animals you have."

"See, Peridot," They watched the large pile decrease. "didn't that make you feel warm inside?"

"No. Let's go, Lapis is waiting for us, we are going home." They went outside and walked to Lapis. They then went back to the beach to get Peridot's enhancers and finally started to head home.

Galenite woke. It was dark. Had had turned some lights on, and had been watching the TV before falling asleep. It had become a ritual of sorts for the trio, seeing as there was very little to do here, especially at night. Some heard some noise, probably the same one that had woken her up. Her nano-metal took the shape of a club as she approached the door. It sounded as a group of people was there, whispering. The door opened and Galenite rose her weapon, ready to strike, before she recognized the intruders.

"Lapis. You scared me half to death." She gave them a closer look. Their faces were painted and Lapis and Steven were wearing some strange conical hats. Peridot was…. well…. short. And carrying a giant teddy bear. Galenite could see her former limbs producing from Lapis's bag.

"What in the void happened to you?"

"We spent a nice day." Lapis walked the sleepy looking Steven to one of the hammocks. "How was yours?"

"Fine. If you like being captured."

"What?" Peridot had already nestled in on the couch.

"Long story."

"So is ours." Lapis sat next to Peridot and looked at Steven, who had already fallen asleep. It had been quite a long walk back to the pad, and the day had taken its toll on the boy. She felt attached to him, somehow. She couldn't explain it, but didn't want to, as if it would make it disappear.

"You start." Lapis shrugged and started to talk of the day.

Everything was quiet outside. The whole world seemed to be sleeping. Besides three gems, who were busy worrying for their lost friend. A friend, who had found three new ones.


End file.
